Governor Appoints Panel to Oversee Va.S Crime Lab
Posted on: Friday, 12 August 2005, 09:00 CDT
BY Christina Nuckols
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
RICHMOND Gov. Mark R. Warner appointed a group of scientists Monday to watch over the states embattled crime lab.
The appointments make Virginia only the second state in the country, along with New York, to establish a scientific review panel for its DNA lab.
The 13 scientists named to the Virginia panel will review laboratory operations, adopt qualification standards for the lab director and other staffers, and establish an audit process to be used when errors occur.
The group also would be available to review lab reports and test results at the request of the governor or lab officials.
Betty Layne DesPortes, chairwoman of the jurisprudence section of the American Academy of Forensic Science, said many states are considering scientific review panels because of errors discovered at DNA labs across the country, including Virginias.
Its good that Virginia is on the forefront, said DesPortes, a Richmond lawyer . We had a national reputation for a long time, and weve taken a hit in recent years.
An audit in May found that the state lab twice botched DNA testing in the case of Earl Washington Jr., who spent nearly 18 years in prison for the rape and murder of a Culpeper woman. Washington was pardoned in 2000 based on DNA tests by the state lab, but the audit suggested he could have been cleared more quickly if lab examiners had followed proper procedures.
Reacting to the audit, Warner assembled a team of scientists to review more than 160 other cases handled by the lab. That group could release its findings as early as this month.
State lawmakers signaled their concern over the lab when they voted in February to create a permanent scientific advisory committee. DesPortes said Warners appointments to that committee include a cross-section of academics as well as crime lab officials from other states, federal agencies and the military.
The governor did a really good job of getting people without an agenda, she said.
Advocates for reform were particularly pleased by the appointment of Dan E. Krane, a professor of biological sciences at Wright State University in Ohio.
Krane said in a telephone interview that he will press state lab officials to post more information on their Web site about testing procedures and guidelines, as well as errors committed by staff examiners.
Im going to be an advocate of openness, he said. I hope we will talk about ways to make testing more open and less done in the context of a black box.
Krane has long been an advocate for changes that would increase scientific scrutiny of crime labs, said William C. Thompson, a DNA expert and criminology professor at the University of California- Irvine.
I like to see academics on these things because theyre more concerned about the quality of science rather than just keeping the wheels of justice turning in a cost-efficient way, Thompson said. The fact that Krane is in there is a real coup. Hell keep em honest.
Other scientists named to the panel include:
* Jo Ann Given of Virginia Beach, laboratory director of the Regional Forensic Laboratory for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
* Kevin C. McElfresh of Stafford, executive director of the Bode Technology Group, which handles some DNA testing for the Virginia lab.
* Alphonse Poklis of Richmond, affiliate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
* Frederick R. Bieber of Roslindale, Mass., a medical geneticist at the Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston and associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School.
* Joseph P. Bono of Woodbridge, quality assurance manager in the Office of Forensic Sciences at the Drug Enforcement Administration.
* Arthur J. Eisenberg of North Richland, Texas, professor of pathology at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and director of its DNA Identity Lab.
* Reach Christina Nuckols at (804) 697-1562 or christina.nuckols@pilot online.com.
Source: Virginian - Pilot
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