NY County Crime Lab closed because of continued drug testing errors, etc.
A New York government crime lab was shut down on Friday as part of a probe into whether drug evidence was being tested accurately, authorities said, in a move that could prompt prisoners to seek to have their convictions overturned.
Some 9,000 drug cases from 2007 to 2010 at the Nassau County Crime Lab are under review, with evidence in some cases being retested for accuracy, said Nassau County, N.Y. District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
Lab supervisors are being investigated for a possible cover-up because they knew about trouble in the drug-testing section in September 2010, Rice said. That was three months before release of a report by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors that triggered the probe and put the lab on probation.
"In light of the information about the supervisors, I requested the County Executive immediately shut down all sections of the crime lab until our review is complete," Rice said.
The shut-down is a "precautionary measure," she said.
So far six cases involving the drugs Ecstasy and Ketamine were tested incorrectly, and the defendants were not charged properly, Rice said.
Officials immediately closed the drug section. On Friday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice and County Executive Edward Mangano said new revelations that police supervisors were aware of problems with ecstasy testing as far back as September prompted the closure of the entire lab.
The current situation, Rice said, makes it "impossible for our prosecutors to offer narcotics evidence to the court with the fairness and integrity that I believe are required and that the community deserves."
Problems first surfaced in December when a national accrediting group placed the lab on probation – the only lab in the country facing that sanction. The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board cited 15 failures of the lab to comply with nationally recognized standards, including improper maintenance of equipment and instruments, failure to properly mark evidence, failure to properly store evidence, failure to secure the lab and inadequate record-keeping.
Defense attorney Brian Griffin said his office has been getting many calls from clients wanting to know where they stand.
"I have a client who agreed to take a plea in a cocaine case," Griffin said. "He lost his job because of the arrest and conviction. It changed his life, obviously not in a positive way. Now to hear there are deep-rooted problems that predate and postdate my client's testing? It's a great concern."
Griffin questions whether his client indeed had cocaine in his possession and whether it was accurately analyzed. He said the fact his client believed he had cocaine is beside the point; authorities have to certify that any substance used in a prosecution is indeed an illicit drug.
"That's what we call burden shifting," he said. "The fundamental rule in the Constitution is that the government has the burden of proving its case. It's not on the charged citizen to disprove anything."
Links: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133870757
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/18/us-crime-lab-idUSTRE71H79420110218