Posted on 08/06/2004 1:17:19 AM PDT by familyop
The police crime laboratory in Houston, already reeling from a scandal that has led to retesting of evidence in 360 cases, now faces a much larger crisis that could involve many thousands of cases over 25 years.
Six independent forensic scientists, in a joint written report to be filed in a Houston state court today, said that a crime laboratory official -- because he either lacked basic knowledge of blood typing or gave false testimony -- helped convict an innocent man of rape in 1987.
The panel's report concluded that crime laboratory officials might have offered "similarly false and scientifically unsound" written statements and testimony in other cases, and it called for a comprehensive audit spanning decades to re-examine the results of a broad array of rudimentary tests on blood, sperm and other bodily fluids.
Dr. Elizabeth A. Johnson, a former director of the DNA laboratory at the Harris County medical examiner's office in Houston, the county seat, said the task would be daunting.
"A conservative number would probably be 5,000 to 10,000 cases," Johnson said. "If you add in hair, it's off the board."
The official whose testimony was challenged, James Bolding, said in a telephone interview that he did not recall the particular case. But Bolding said that both his scientific work and his testimony were always careful and professional. When he testified in 1987, he was the supervisor of the laboratory's serology unit. He later became the chief of its DNA unit.
His testimony helped convict George Rodriguez, who has served 17 years for raping a 14-year-old girl in 1987. DNA results have now cleared him, according to court-ordered testing, and the papers to be filed today will seek his release. As in many of the 146 DNA exonerations across the country, the new information also calls into question the scientific evidence used to convict Rodriguez in the first place.
A re-examination of the work by the Houston crime laboratory is already under way, but only of the DNA evidence used to convict people. That effort involves hundreds of cases and has produced a staggering workload, prosecutors in Houston say. One man has been exonerated, and significant problems have arisen in at least 40 other cases.
The discovery of flawed work in the laboratory that led to the Rodriguez conviction would seem to require similar reviews of its tests on blood, sperm and other bodily fluids, in addition to the DNA evidence, legal experts said. Prosecutors would not immediately say what they will do or whether they will oppose the request for Rodriguez's release.
Barry Scheck, one of Rodriguez's lawyers, said that Harris County's crime laboratory scandal is the worst in America.
"We know already that they couldn't do DNA testing properly," Scheck said. "Now we have a scandal that calls into question many thousands more cases. And this jurisdiction has produced more executions than any other county in America."
Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Texas has executed 323 people -- 73 of them from Harris County.
Houston PING
The crime lab technicians were just doing their jobs, following standard procedure. There is no case of any crime lab technicians ever violating a citizen.
/sarcasm
This horrible. Some of these crime lab folks need to go to jail. I hope Mayor White will pick this up.
I seriously doubt that Houston's crime lab is in any worse shape than anyone elses. Even the FBI has fudged some.
Even though there is a case or two I have had serious doubts about, I fully support the death penalty. Just make danged sure that the person who's life the system is ruining or ending actually did what they are being accused of. Lay all the cards out no matter where they point, test accurately and correctly and follow all the rules not just the ones that are convenient or expedient. /mini rant off
This should have been the number one campaign issue in the last election but it wasn't. This is the most important problem that houston faces. No one has been fired from what I am told. That may not be true but it is the norm here.
If anyone trusts the government now, they are stupid.
Does anyone think that this 'magic' DNA evidence is going to be handled any better? I'm not resting easy.
I wonder if anyone was executed based on faulty lab work. I also wonder if the governor would agree to voluntarily retest death row evidence.
I'm anti-death penalty not because I don't think some people deserve it, but because I seriously doubt the competent and equitible application of it.
I'd rather be executed for a crime that I didn't commit than to spend the next twenty or twenty-five years in prison for that crime. At least execution would put an end to my suffering. Falsely punishing anyone is a tragedy, and keeping them alive to rot in jail doesn't reduce the magnitude of that tragedy.
Bill
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.