Government Technology - July 2008 - (Page 30)

“One of the most critical parts of a lab is to have outside scrutiny, and that was not occurring.” Irma Rios, director, Houston Police Department Crime Lab A 2004 investigation by the Seattle PostIntelligencer found 23 DNA testing errors in serious criminal cases handled in a Washington state lab. In North Carolina, the WinstonSalem Journal recently ran a series of articles about many DNA testing errors by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. In Virginia, it took an outside investigation to clear Earl Washington Jr., who was falsely convicted of capital murder and nearly executed. An independent lab reused the same samples that led to his conviction but found contradicting results. of the Houston lab. The facility now undergoes external and internal audits; proficiency testing and competency testing of the examiners; retesting of completed cases; blind sample testing; testimony monitoring, and internal and external training. In addition, the lab installed cameras and limited access to personnel with card readers. “We’re implementing a laboratory information system where there’s a lot of traceability of people,” Rios said. “Those are some of the things we’ve done to increase the monitoring.” The Problems In late 2002, television station KHOU in Houston looked into deficiencies of the HPD Crime Lab and asked William Thompson, University of California, Irvine professor and forensic expert, to investigate. “The problems were just obvious,” Thompson said. “They weren’t running proper scientific controls. They were giving misleading testimony. They were computing their statistics incorrectly — in a way that was biased against the accused in many cases.” In some cases, Thompson found simple errors where documentation said Sample A matched Sample B, for instance, which was untrue. There were cases where Thompson That’s not all. DNA testing errors are cropping up nationwide: California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Nevada have documented major problems recently. Munier agreed the troubles are widespread. These issues have prompted critics to call for greater independence among the nation’s crime labs, which typically are run by law enforcement agencies. In Houston, chronic problems with forensic evidence produced by the crime lab resulted in new independent oversight and accreditation of the facility, as well as increased investment in staff salaries, equipment and training. “One of the most critical parts of a lab is to have outside scrutiny, and that was not occurring,” said Irma Rios, the new director JULY_08 found inconsistencies between the lab report and what was said in court. “Along the way, I encountered this case of Josiah Sutton, where not only did the lab work look sloppy and bad, but it looked like they’d misinterpreted the results in a way that they’d reported something as incriminating when it was exculpatory.” In addition to improper or incomplete lab work, the work wasn’t being reviewed by anyone, and in many cases the results weren’t available to the defense until trial, at which time it was sometimes declared too late for the defense to get an independent analysis of blood or DNA evidence — if there was any blood or DNA left. Like most labs, the HPD Crime Lab could barely keep up with its workload because staff were underpaid, lacked training and weren’t properly supervised. In the Sutton case, a lab analyst used “poor technique,” and had insufficient training, according to the Bromwich reports, www .hpdlabinvestigation.org, one of the independent looks into the lab. The analyst produced “ambiguous results, reflecting complex mixtures.” The report said the lab’s murky work was exacerbated by its practice of not accurately explaining just how inconclusive the results were. During the Sutton trial, for example, the lab analyst testified that the DNA found on the victim was an exact match to Sutton’s, when in actuality 1 in 16 black men would be a similar match, according to Thompson. Further, the analyst used all four vaginal swabs, not a HPD Crime Lab Improvements The Houston crime lab recently implemented a quality assurance program that includes: • internal and external audits; • proﬁciency testing of the examiners; • retesting completed cases; • blind sample testing; • testimony monitoring; and • internal and external training. The lab also implemented an information system to facilitate monitoring of lab employees and work ﬂow, including: • installed cameras to monitor lab workers; • controlled access to lab with card readers; and • increased salaries for lab personnel. 30 http://www.hpdlabinvestigation.org http://www.hpdlabinvestigation.org http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - July 2008

Government Technology - July 2008 Point of View The Last Mile Big Picture On the Scene Four Questions for ... Generation 2.0 at Work Dangerous Convenience Tainted Justice? Are You Ready? E-Discovery Basics Smart Docs Advanced Math Online Video Blues Spectrum Personal Computing Products signal:noise

Government Technology - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.