Crime Lab Problems

In recent years, the integrity of crime laboratories has been called into question, with some heavily publicized cases highlighting (1) unqualified practitioners, (2) sometimes lax standards that have generated questionable or fraudulent evidence, and (3) the absence of quality control measures to detect questionable evidence. In one notorious case, the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed serious inadequacies in the procedures used by the Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory, including routine failure to run essential scientific controls, to take adequate measures to prevent contamination of samples, to adequately document work performed and results obtained, and to follow correct procedures for computing statistical frequencies. There have been a number of other dismaying reports about crime labs--most recently, the San Francisco drug lab--that suffer from problems like those uncovered in Houston.

Judge Harry T. Edwards in Forensic Testimony (2013) by C. Michael Bowers

Criminal Justice Quote: Self Inflicted Gunshot Wounds

     Gunshot deaths are relatively straightforward when compared to other deaths that can be easily masked.  [For example, drownings, poisonings, and falls.] The challenge in these fatalities is determining whether the one-shot deaths are suicides, and even those can be difficult because there have been cases of people firing multiple shots into themselves. [That is extremely rare.]

     There are two common characteristics to look for in gunshot wound cases: close contact between the muzzle [the business end of the barrel] and the skin will produce a scorching effect, depositing soot around the wound [tattooing]; and the entry wound wound will be smaller and more rounded than the exit wound, which will be much larger and jagged.

Jarrett Hallcox and Amy Welch, Bodies We've Buried, 2006 

Criminal Justice Quote: DNA Based Mugshots

A study published on March 20, 2014, reports on the possibility of computers to accurately create virtual mugshots on an individual based solely on that person's DNA. Several scientists from around the world, the majority of them from Belgium and the U.S., have studied facial features based on the aspects of ancestry, gender and individual genetic traits to come up with a formula for accurately predicting facial reconstruction from saliva, skin or a strand of hair. This means that if this initial study is improved upon and the process is refined, in the future (one author of the study claims this may happen within the next 5 to 10 years), accurate criminal mugshots may be created for police and other investigators from genetic material found at the scene of a crime….

Julie Mahfood, "DNA Mugshots Possible," Liberty Voice, March 22, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Medical Examiners Replacing Coroners

In response to the corruption and bad science, Massachusetts established the first medical examiner system in 1877. The difference was that medical examiners were appointed pathologists with special training in forensics and death investigation; coroners were often elected lay people who relied on medical personnel to do autopsies. Most medical examiner systems lacked the political power of coroner's officers--they were not elected offices and they did not serve subpoenas, hold coroner's inquests in homicide cases, or issue arrest warrants. After Massachusetts switched to an ME system, New York City followed suit in 1918, and after 1950 a flurry of medical examiner systems displaced or began overseeing coroner's offices.

John Temple, Death House, 2005 

Criminal Justice Quote: Another Crime Lab Scandal

      Officials are investigating a crime lab chemist based in Pensacola, Florida, saying he allegedly swapped prescription drugs pain pills seized as evidence with over-the-counter medication. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesperson on February 1, 2014 said officials are now looking into 2,600 cases handled by the chemist since 2006.

     The investigation started when the State Attorney's Office and police asked for assistance into inquiries of missing prescription pills from the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. They discovered the drugs had been replaced with the over-the-counter medication.

     FDLE teams will be deployed to all agencies impacted in order to inspect evidence handled by the chemist. Members will work to confirm cases that have been potentially compromised….No charges have been filed yet, but officials said they anticipate an arrest. The suspect has been removed from his job.

"Florida Reopens Drug Cases After Chemist Allegedly Caught Swapping Evidence," ABC News Radio, February 2, 2014

Criminal Justice Quote: Crime Lab Problems in San Francisco

If you had to get caught dealing drugs, San Francisco was the place to be in 2010, especially if the evidence against you went to criminalist Deborah Madden. That's when Madden was accused of pilfering small amounts of cocaine from the lab for personal use. An internal review turned up significant shortages of drug evidence in several cases she handled. But Madden said she was not surprised by that because weight discrepancies occurred frequently at the lab. The San Francisco district attorney's office first said a half-dozen cases might be compromised, then began to drop hundreds of cases. Later, the investigation of the lab expanded to look at the potential involvement of other crime lab employees, and the DA's office had to analyze 1,400 pending felony narcotics cases they might be forced to drop. Madden retired and no charges were filed.

A Miscellany of Murder, The Monday Murder Club, 2011