Bulletin: Kamal Shah: New Jersey. Forensic experts and defense attorneys say his recent removal for improperly testing a drug sample points to a breakdown in a critical review system and could put the entire lab’s credibility in question - and call for an independent investigation: "What is going on in that lab to make sure that the integrity of the criminal justice system remains?” Jean-Jacques Cabou, a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that revelations of improper conduct at forensic labs often set off a chain of events that could go on for years. Cabou has been involved in legal proceedings in Massachusetts in the aftermath of the arrest of Annie Dookan, a chemist who admitted to falsifying crime lab evidence that affected tens of thousands of criminal cases. Dookan was sent to prison in 2013, while prosecutors, defense lawyers, their clients and other groups sought legal remedies for defendants affected by her misconduct. Those proceedings are likely to continue for years, Cabou said. “In my view, that is an experience that will be coming to the courts of New Jersey,” he said." The Record;

"A state police lab technician’s recent removal for improperly testing a drug sample points to a breakdown in a critical review system and could put the entire lab’s credibility in question, forensic experts and defense attorneys said Friday. Some of them called for an independent investigation of the Little Falls operation.  Kamal Shah was suspended after he was observed writing test results for a sample that he had not tested, according to the state Attorney General’s Office. The breach was serious enough to prompt the office to send a letter on Feb. 22 to all county prosecutors, notifying them of Shah’s removal and instructing them to contact defense lawyers for cases in which Shah’s lab reports may have been used. In the 10 years that he worked at the lab, Shah handled more than 7,800 cases, the Attorney General’s Office said. The letter, written by Elie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice at the Attorney General’s Office, stressed that the move was made “in an abundance of caution.” But experts and defense attorneys say that a statewide decree from one of New Jersey’s highest ranking law enforcement officials to identify and review more than 7,800 narcotics cases reflects a systemic problem at the lab that goes far beyond one technician. “We won’t know until it is investigated properly, but there was some sort of a breakdown in the system,” said Richard Saferstein, a retired state police chief forensic scientist who now works as a consultant. Saferstein said that when a lab technician conducts a test, the finding is always reviewed by other colleagues. “There was always a checker that signed off on it,” Saferstein said. “Whatever system they had, it broke down.” Saferstein said that in such cases, the best remedy is to bring in an outside investigator to review what went wrong. Emile Lisboa, a Hackensack criminal defense lawyer, said that every lab technician’s finding is peer-reviewed by another lab technician and is signed off by a supervisor. He said Shah peer-reviewed the findings of other lab technicians who were preparing reports in drug cases. It would be impossible to question the validity of Shah’s cases without casting doubt on the lab technicians and supervisors who signed off on his test results, he said..........Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office, declined to comment when asked whether questions surrounding cases Shah handled would cast doubt on the other lab technicians who peer-reviewed his tests. He also declined to comment on whether the office is concerned about the integrity of drug tests that were conducted by other lab technicians and peer-reviewed by Shah. Laura Sutnick, a criminal defense lawyer, said the state should conduct an internal audit of the Little Falls lab where Shah worked for a decade. “Are there random checks done? Are there any audits?” Sutnick said. “What is going on in that lab to make sure that the integrity of the criminal justice system remains?” Jean-Jacques Cabou, a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that revelations of improper conduct at forensic labs often set off a chain of events that could go on for years. Cabou has been involved in legal proceedings in Massachusetts in the aftermath of the arrest of Annie Dookan, a chemist who admitted to falsifying crime lab evidence that affected tens of thousands of criminal cases. Dookan was sent to prison in 2013, while prosecutors, defense lawyers, their clients and other groups sought legal remedies for defendants affected by her misconduct. Those proceedings are likely to continue for years, Cabou said. “In my view, that is an experience that will be coming to the courts of New Jersey,” he said."
http://www.northjersey.com/news/new-jersey-crime-lab-faces-doubts-after-technician-s-suspension-1.1522906

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