Shortcuts taken in a NY crime lab may affect thousands of cases, could this be happening in other crime labs?

A technician in the NYPD's forensics lab has been suspended for allegedly falsifying drug-test results, throwing into question "maybe thousands" of criminal cases -- and prompting a panicked meeting yesterday between cops and the city district attorneys.

A Bronx drug trial was even abruptly halted last week because the longtime lab technician, Mariem Megalla, was supposed to testify in that case, sources told The Post.

The NYPD last week sent out an emergency e-mail to the city's five DAs warning them about the evidence disaster and telling them to examine pending felony case files for evidence tested by her. In all such cases, the NYPD wrote, the evidence will need to be retested to make sure the results are accurate.

The apparent shortcuts taken by a New York Police Department criminalist in testing suspected drug samples left prosecutors throughout the city scrambling on Tuesday to find out how many cases might be affected and what to do about them.


Links:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/lab_tech_wQIOPAcKYnI2rP1lQMEDqL#ixzz0oNbKJYEA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/nyregion/12lab.html