Indiana State Department of toxicology falsified hundreds of test results.

What is the commonality in these crime labs falsifying test results? They work closely with the police & prosecution.

The first major report from an audit of the Indiana State Department of Toxicology further brings into question the validity of potentially hundreds of drug and alcohol tests performed at the lab in recent years.

The findings from the audit, provided to The Indianapolis Star, showed errors in about 200 of 2,000 marijuana tests reported to law enforcement as having positive results. That includes about 50 described as "a conscious manipulation of results" by lab workers.

The legal maneuver comes on the heels of last week's report in The Indianapolis Star that revealed the depth of testing problems at the lab: An ongoing audit found lab errors in 10 percent of 2,000 positive blood tests for marijuana.

And those results are only a fraction of what will eventually be reviewed -every test from 2007 to 2009, more than 10,000 samples overall.

Defense attorneys reacted to the audit results with words such as "shock" and "inexcusable" and "forensic perjury." Former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman called the findings "a potential mess." Now Newman -- who was hired by Indiana University to assess and address the problems -- is working to create a system for handling what he expects to be a flood of appeals.

"This is a potential mess," said former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman, who was hired to fix the agency. "The only thing that saves it is . . . the criminal justice system and the scientific community (being) brought together to try to make sense about how to go forward."

Newman acknowledged there is potential for numerous verdicts to be overturned and cases to be dismissed, although not every error is necessarily connected to a wrongful conviction. Some of the problems may not be significant enough to change the outcome of cases.

But Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council, called the revelations "shocking" and "inexcusable."
"If they're manipulating data, how can you rely on anything they do?" Landis said. "We're talking about people's lives."


Links:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110210/NEWS14/102100397/1001/Toxicology-errors-could-go-trial-audit-continues?odyssey=nav|head

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110203/NEWS14/102030409/Errors-found-Indiana-state-lab-toxicology-tests?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com