Analysts in two divisions of the Houston crime lab failed to report evidence that might have helped criminal suspects, and they made errors in almost one-third of the cases reviewed in a test sample, an independent investigator reported Wednesday.
The problems in the Houston Police Department lab amounted to "a near-total breakdown" in the DNA and serology divisions over a 15-year period, Michael Bromwich said.
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Schneider has urged U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Houston, to seek a federal investigation. Poe, a former Harris County prosecutor and criminal court judge, said Wednesday that he has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for assistance in investigating the crime lab.
"My concern is, the more cases that are investigated, it just turns over other cases," said Poe.
In addition to the serology and DNA labs, the Bromwich team found problems with the work of two former analysts in the controlled substances lab. In June, Bromwich accused Vipul Patel and James Price of "drylabbing," or faking results, in four drug cases between 1998 and 2000.
In the new report, Bromwich's team detailed a study of more cases by the two former analysts. After reviewing 200 of Patel's 366 cases, investigators reported suspected problems in 14. Discrepancies also were found in several of Price's cases, the report says.
On the positive side, the report notes high-quality work in the crime lab's divisions that test firearms, toxicology and questioned documents. The toxicology and firearms divisions have not completely escaped controversy, however.
In October 2003, HPD temporarily suspended toxicology testing after the division supervisor failed a competency test.
Questions also have been raised in several firearms cases, including those of death row inmates Nanon Williams, Johnnie Bernal and Martin Draughon.
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