Professor James E. Starrs digs bones.Starrs, a forensic scientist famous for exhuming the bodies of Jesse James, assassinated Louisiana Sen. Huey P. Long, and the man who allegedly killed Long, Dr. Carl A. Weiss, will speak at 4 p.m. today in the Drinko Hall auditorium. His speech, “Bones of Contention: Exhuming the Truth About Senator Huey P. Long’s Assassination,” will focus on Starrs’ theory about Long’s death.Long was a populist politician who rose to fame during the Depression by advocating policies aimed at helping struggling working people. He was called a hero by his followers; a demagogue by his critics.Although the official report after the assassination said Weiss shot Long, theories suggest that Long’s enemies plotted the assassination or that one of Long’s bodyguards accidentally shot Long when assaulting Weiss.”There is a strong possibility that he wasn’t assassinated by Weiss,” Starrs said. “It was someone in the hallway who did it.”The forensics expert will also talk about some of his other exhumations and the weaving together of science and law.Starrs has participated in investigations of the Lindbergh kidnapping and the LSD-linked death of CIA agent Frank Olson. Starrs also compiled computer simulations of both the Menendez and Nicole Brown Simpson-Ron Goldman murders.Starrs was scheduled to appear in a Tennessee federal court Friday to argue his case for the exhumation of famed explorer Meriwether Lewis, who along with William Clark explored the land known as the Louisiana Purchase. Years after the famed expedition which helped open the West to the U.S. government, Lewis died in somewhat mysterious circumstances. Long thought to be a suicide, some speculate Lewis might have met with foul play. Starrs hopes to resolve the mystery surrounding his death.”The last time I was in court, we had almost 200 members of the Lewis family supporting us and the numbers keep growing,” he said last week. “Obviously, my chances are good because I’ve done legal and other work. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t argue the case, I would simply concede.”Starrs teaches criminal law, criminal procedure and forensic science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is a Ford Foundation Fellow and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. “He is a prolific speaker,” said Kenneth Field, historian at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. “At breakfast seminars he presents two or three papers. His papers result in interesting presentations every year.””His class was fun, he’s a good teacher, very interesting,” said Gregory Williams, Dean of the OSU College of Law. Williams had Starrs for class in Washington D.C. “I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know him when I was his student,” he said.Starrs will examine the exhumed body of a 26-year-old Jackson County woman while in Ohio. The woman, Malinda McIntosh, allegedly committed suicide using a shotgun while hunting with her boyfriend, who had a history of violence. “Obviously, anyone who knows the mother and her attempt to clear the record would be very sympathetic to her case,” Starrs said. “She got a document from the court saying the man caused her daughter’s death.”No autopsy was done and the X-rays are missing, he said.”This case is deserving and I am willing to put up money and do the best we can on this very compelling case,” Starrs said.Starrs receives dozens of requests for help from people who feel they have been wrongly convicted of a crime or who have loved ones who died under questionable circumstances.”I just got two requests today from prisoners who believe they are wrongly imprisoned,” Starrs said. “Now I have an assistant assigned to look through requests to determine whether to pursue them.”