A long standing investigation in the Coroner's office of New York City, which has been buffeted by the indictment of a former lab technician who was found to have mishandled 800 cases of rape by writing that they were negative when they had not been correctly examined to bolster her productivity score, is now grappling with the new finding that in 50 other cases, the critical DNA evidence was not uploaded to the state's database, after collection at crime scenes.
The new evidence was found during the extensive review that is still being conducted in the lab, which found that DNA evidence was missed in at least 26 rape cases.
In some 55 cases, the office had entered the DNA into the office database, but not in the state database, a crucial step in matching the DNA with the national database for possible hits. In fact, when the 55 samples were uploaded to the general database, there was one hit, while the other 54 did not result in any new evidence.
The lab spokesman asserted that 55 cases represents a tiny fraction of the overall profiles that have been entered since 2000. A victim's advocate, however, could easily see fault in this statement as the perpetrator is in fact free, if not matched in the DNA database, to commit crimes again.
The Office has retained an outside expert to evaluate the lab's management. However, there is concern of how many cases might have been annulled by the lack of diligence and how many positives might be voided due to the earlier mismanagement of rape kits evidence by the indicted technician.
Source: Adapted from the NYT 2.1.13 / Goldstein
No comments:
Post a Comment