When employees are accused of cheating on an open book proficiency test that assesses those employees knowledge of lab results, can anyone trust those results? Pass criminal cases should be evaluated in order to determine the accuracy of those convictions. Nothing could be worse than spending time in prison for a crime you did not commit. The crime lab already has a bad history.
The lab's DNA section was shut down in 2002 after an independent audit found inaccuracies in analysis procedures. Independent investigators have identified 180 blood-analysis cases from the 1980s and early 1990s which showed problems with HPD serology work.
CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING IN PRISON FOR A CRIME YOU DID NOT COMMIT?
This week, 47-year-old inmate Ronald Taylor, who has been in prison for 12 years on a rape charge, was exonerated after DNA retesting showed another man committed the crime. The Houston crime lab originally reported that it could not do a DNA analysis because a bed sheet it tested did not contain semen.
Two other men have been released from prison during the review of the crime lab's work.
IT MAKES ME WONDER WHETHER SOME OLD CRIMINAL CASES SHOULD BE REVIEWED AS WELL.
Although police officials said the alleged cheating did not affect any evidence, the Harris County District Attorney's Office is sending a letter to defense attorneys and defendants with pending cases involving work done by crime lab analysts.
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