SBI bloodstain analysis team had no guidelines for 21 years. Is this a concern for other departments?

North Carolina: For 21 years, a key group of State Bureau of Investigation agents tasked with interpreting bloodstain patterns at crime scenes operated on their own, without leadership or written policies.

The News & Observer requested a copy of the bloodstain analysis policy in July. The Department of Justice, which oversees the SBI, provided it late last week. The policy was dated October 2009, eight weeks after the acquittal of a Clemmons dentist highlighted shoddy bloodstain analysis.

Eric Hooks, assistant SBI director, said it was the agency's first policy involving bloodstain pattern analysis.

The work of the SBI's bloodstain pattern analysts does not fall under the agency's crime lab, which has come under widespread criticism and scrutiny that threatens cases both pending and concluded. This unit was not included in a recent audit that found that SBI lab analysts withheld or misreported the results of blood tests in at least 230 cases.

That audit, by two retired FBI supervisors, focused on evidence withheld from prosecutors and defense attorneys.

The problem with the bloodstain pattern analysts is the question of junk science.

Seth Edwards, president of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys, said Wednesday that he was concerned that problems extended beyond the SBI lab.

"At this point, everything at the SBI is open for discussion," Edwards said.

The lack of policy is "astounding," said Marilyn Miller, a professor of forensic science at Virginia Commonwealth University. "If you are a reputable unit, you have written procedures for everything you do."

Dozens of cases where SBI bloodstain analysts testified are under question, she said.


Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/09/671509/sbi-bloodstain-analysis-teamwent.html