Detroit's abandoned crime lab adds to a disturbing U.S. trend
BY TRESA BALDAS AND STEVE NEAVLING DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS robert_southwood@hotmail.com wants to share this mobile article with you:
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www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011105290502May 29, 2011
The stunning discovery of piles of evidence in a rotting old building last week put Detroit on a growing national list of crime labs accused in recent years of making big mistakes.
The Motor City joins labs in Houston, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington plagued with similar problems.
"This is just another glaring example of what is now an epidemic in crime lab negligence," said Drew Findling, chairman of the Forensic Discipline Committee for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Of Detroit's lab fiasco, Findling said: "It's really one of the most shocking stories."
The Free Press discovered last week that evidence sat in a decaying old school for months, the remains of the city's crime lab that was ordered closed in 2008 because of shoddy police work. Among the rubble -- susceptible to thieves and vandals -- were thousands of rounds of live ammo, sealed evidence kits and case files.
The discovery is giving defense lawyers plenty of fodder to file appeals claiming tainted evidence.
However, legal experts note that the conditions of the evidence won't necessarily make it inadmissible in court.
"Obviously the defense is going to jump all over it, but a court could say, 'Tell that to a jury,' " said Richard Friedman, an evidence expert at the University of Michigan Law School. "There's also that possibility that a court would say, 'This just stinks too badly.' "
Unsecured Detroit police crime lab has legal experts calling for federal oversight
A chorus of legal experts and defense attorneys are now calling for federal oversight as fallout continues from last week's revelation that the Detroit police crime lab sat unsecured for months with evidence still inside.
They argue that a federal monitor should be assigned to oversee the situation, which is now expected to generate a wave of appeals by defense lawyers claiming tainted evidence.
The Free Press discovered last week that the crime lab -- housed in a deteriorating old school building on Brush Street -- was abandoned and unsecured. Inside were live ammunition, blood samples and reports with victims' Social Security numbers -- all of it exposed to trespassers.
It's not yet clear what reports and evidence were left behind, what condition the items are in or how far back they date. The lab was ordered closed in 2008 because of shoddy work, but was used as an evidence transfer point until last year. Former Police Chief Warren Evans said he directed the contents of the building be moved to headquarters before he was fired last July for unrelated reasons.
Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr., then the assistant chief, took responsibility Friday for not ensuring that the building was emptied. He agreed that an independent probe should be conducted by the Michigan State Police -- a measure Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy called for Friday after hearing about the conditions at the lab.
But many legal experts argue that isn't enough. They want to see federal oversight -- something the Detroit Police Department already knows well. The department has been under federal oversight since 2003 for incidents involving excessive force.
Gerald Lorence, an appellate criminal defense lawyer who has long been "appalled" by the crime lab situation, said he believes a federal monitor should be assigned to the case. When the lab was closed in 2008, the crime lab functions -- and existing evidence -- were to be turned over to the Michigan State Police crime lab in Northville.
"Get a special person in here to examine what happened and why. From the very beginning, it was a complete whitewash," Lorence said of the lab investigation and shifting of evidence to the state police. "There was nobody looking over their shoulders."
David A. Moran, co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic, also would like to see federal oversight. He said his clinic has requested criminal evidence from the Detroit Police Department for years, but its Freedom of Information Act requests either go unanswered or police tell them the evidence doesn't exist.
He's now questioning whether some of that evidence could be tucked in the city's old decaying crime lab.
"I wouldn't be surprised, if in FOIA requests where we got a response saying, 'Sorry, it's gone,' the evidence is sitting in that crime lab," Moran said.
Moran added: "A federal investigation is really called for here. ... Everyone had been led to believe that the crime lab scandal had been contained, and that it was in the hands of police, but that wasn't done."
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade would not comment on whether she would consider appointing a federal monitor to oversee the crime lab. She would say only: "We are looking into the situation."
Legal experts, meanwhile, predict the latest incident will give defense lawyers plenty of reasons to file appeals on the grounds that evidence was tainted. They will question the chain of custody -- that is, who actually had custody of and access to the evidence and whether it could have been tainted.
"What it does is it swings open the door to attack the integrity and reliability of that evidence. The question will remain, 'Was it tainted, and was it somehow interfered with?' " said Drew Findling, chairman of the Forensic Discipline Committee for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Any evidence in that unguarded building, Findling argued, won't look good in jurors' eyes.
"When you hear that there was no security -- open access -- that sends out a very loud ringing alarm," he said. "Now we're talking about stuff just lying around like old clothes left in the back of a closet."
Still, some legal experts say just because the evidence sat for months in an unguarded building doesn't guarantee it would be ruled inadmissible in court.
If it's still intact and relevant to the case, it could be credible evidence, said Richard Friedman, an evidence expert at the University of Michigan Law School.
"Personally, I would not hold that it's per se inadmissible," Friedman said. "If I'm the judge, I'd say, 'I'm going to let it in. Defense, I'm going to let you go to town on this if you want ... and I'll let the jury decide.' "
But, Friedman noted: "There's also that possibility that a court would say, 'This just stinks too badly.' "
Criminal defense attorney Gabi Silver, who has successfully challenged tainted evidence before, said crime lab errors hurt victims and defendants alike. Victims may not see their attackers get justice, and innocent defendants could get wrongfully convicted, Silver said.
"It's ridiculous," Silver said. "How are we ever going to trust the integrity of this evidence?"
"This is people's lives," she said. "To just be so lackadaisical with people's lives is just incredible. It's just unbelievable."
Mayor Dave Bing, meanwhile, is standing by Godbee.
"The mayor continues to have the utmost respect for the police chief," said Karen Dumas, Bing's spokeswoman. "We're going to let the chief look at this and determine how to make sure this never happens again."