Innocence Blog

Friday roundup – crime labs in the news

Posted: August 29, 2008 3:26 pm

Plenty of forensic issues are making news around the country this week.

•  The longtime director of the Baltimore crime lab was fired this week after officials learned that crime scene evidence had been contaminated with the DNA profiles of lab analysts. Defense attorneys and forensic experts said this news could call thousands of cases that had been tested in the lab into question.

•  Prosecutors and Sheriffs in South Georgia said the proposed closure of two crime labs would hurt both crime victims and defendants. Meanwhile, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is eliminating its staff forensic anthropologist.

•  Officials planned to destroy piles of evidence from a Texas courthouse in September unless defense attorneys or prosecutors claimed the evidence and stored it themselves.

•  Arizona lawmakers expressed concern this week that a proposal to require police departments to pay lab costs would strain law enforcement budgets and underfund the labs.

•  Indianapolis lab analysts are experimenting with DNA collection from guns.

•  A California state crime lab was criticized for losing evidence in a murder case.