Report: 15 put to death by Texas had questionable, tainted evidence

Did the state of Texas put 15 people to death even though the evidence against them may have been tainted?

ll/News has obtained a report that explains exactly what may have gone wrong with the Houston Police Department’s beleaguered crime lab. Specific evidence questions that are tied to 180 criminal cases and include convicts who've already been put to death.

These are details we are seeing for the first time. The specific issues with each of the cases are now being examined.

They are catalogued in a spreadsheet obtained only by 11 News.

It was produced by the Bromwich team, tasked by the city with investigating the trouble at the crime lab.

It has been reviewed by HPD as well as Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.

The spreadsheet coded cases. The color green for cases where evidence still exists and red for evidence still stored at the lab.

We've broken it down for you.

There are 62 murder cases and 40 capital murder cases among the 180 cases now under review.

Of those 40 capital murder cases, 15 of the convicted have already been executed. Ten more are still on death row.

"Just because they're on that list, you have to look at what part the serology played. What was the defect,” said Marie Munier of the DA’s office. “What part that (evidence) played in the conviction. What other evidence was there that these people committed these crimes?”

For some there is no question of guilt. Like Karla Faye Tucker.

There were errors in the lab work related to her murder case. But there was also an admission by her that she did indeed pick axe to death Jerry Dean and Deborah Thornton 24 years ago.

Then there is a case like the quadruple murder at Malibu Grand Prix in 1983. In all, three suspects would be convicted for the murders.

Two, Kenneth Ray Ransom and Richard Wilkerson, were executed.

But the HPD lab evidence shows something strange.

There were four victims and three suspects in the case. Retesting of evidence found two Blood Type AB tests.

But none of the seven individuals in the case are or were type AB.

"Each case will have to be looked at individually,” said Munier.

There are more than 160 hearings planned before Nov. 1 on the cases that are now being reviewed. But 15 already put to death won’t have that chance.