At the Houston Crime Lab, a Backlog in the Thousands

November 20, 2010

The crisis in the Houston Crime Lab continues. In the most recent development, the Houston Chronicle reports the lab still has a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits dating to 1996, as well as 969 newer criminal cases awaiting DNA testing. This backlog grows at a rate of 75 unperformed tests per day.

This tale began back in November 2002 (the problems actually extend back to the 1980s), when TV news reports questioned the quality of the forensic science work in the lab. This resulted in a shakeup and an independent investigation. The final report acknowledged that while many parts of the lab produced reliable results, severe problems persisted.

"We found significant and pervasive problems with the analysis and reporting of results in a large proportion of serology and DNA cases. The Crime Lab's substandard, unreliable serology and DNA work is all the more alarming in light of the fact that it is typically performed in the most serious cases, such as homicides and sexual assaults."

And--troubling for a criminal defense lawyer--convictions for a crime such as homicide in Texas includes the death penalty as punishment.

Management at its Worst

The independent investigation paints a bleak picture of the lab's DNA section:

"By the time of the 2002 outside audit, the DNA Section was in shambles -- plagued by a leaky roof, operating for years without a line supervisor, overseen by a technical leader who had no personal experience performing DNA analysis and who lacked the qualifications required under the applicable Federal Bureau of Investigation standards, staffed by underpaid and undertrained analysts, and generating mistake-ridden and poorly documented casework."

In 2003, the New York Times, citing legal experts, labeled the lab the worst in the country.

The Chronicle reported in July 2010 that Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos had called for an emergency city-county collaboration to handle the thousands of cases.

The Backlog Grows

In September, Irma Rios, the chemist hired to revive the lab, rejected senators' assertions that the crime lab was broken. She did concede during testimony before the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee that the lab's backlog of cases had grown along with 25,000 untested narcotics samples and 200 pending ballistics examinations.

This is a problem for those accused of serious crimes, though surely not all cases will result in exonerations. But Ernest Lee Sonnier, convicted of aggravated kidnapping and rape in Houston and sentenced to life in prison in 1986, was exonerated by new DNA testing and released in 2009.

How long will others like Sonnier have to wait for the Houston Crime Lab to be fixed?

Article provided by Scott H. Palmer, P.C.
Visit us at www.scottpalmerlaw.com