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: Kansas Federal Defender

Bad Labs

By Melody Evans and Kirk Redmond

This is the reason that we can never become complacent about lab reports, never just take them at face value -- because labs get it wrong, make mistakes, and sometimes just outright cheat. Here's yet another example, following OKC and the FBI, of a lab gone bad. Or, perhaps, just revealed for what it really is.Detroit Police Lab Is Closed After Audit Finds Serious Errors in Many Cases Here are excerpts from the NY Times article:The Police Department here shut down its crime laboratory on Thursday after an audit uncovered serious errors in numerous cases. The audit said sloppy work had probably resulted in wrongful convictions, and officials expect a wave of appeals in cases that the laboratory processed. * * * * David E. Balash, a retired State Police official who consults on firearms cases, said the audit?s findings could lead to payouts of hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits...continue to full post

Full post as published by Kansas Federal Defender on September 26, 2008 (boomark / email).