Apparently Texas can't get ANYTHING right
Houston Crime Testing Labs Called Into Doubt: NYT
Thu Aug 5, 2004 06:07 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An independent panel of U.S. forensic scientists has called for a comprehensive audit of tests performed by Houston's police crime laboratory, potentially putting thousands of criminal convictions in doubt, the New York Times said Thursday.
The scientists, in a report to be filed Thursday in a Texas court in Houston, said crime lab officials might have offered "false and scientifically unsound" reports and testimony in various cases. The scientists are urging the re-examination of results from tests on blood, sperm and other bodily fluids spanning decades.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Texas has executed 323 people, more than three times as many as any other state.
The scientists' recommendations follows a state audit, completed in 2002, which found that DNA technicians at the crime lab misinterpreted data, were poorly trained, kept poor records, and often used up available evidence, making it impossible for defense experts to refute their results.
The DNA unit was later shut down, and the scandal led to retesting in 360 cases, involving many thousands of hours, in which DNA evidence was used to convict people, the newspaper said. Problems have arisen in at least 40 cases, it said.
But the scientists' recommendations, if adopted, could affect far more convicts.
"A conservative number would probably be 5,000 to 10,000 cases," Elizabeth Johnson, a former DNA lab director at the Harris County medical examiner's office in Houston, said. "If you add in hair, it's off the board."
