PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The original estimate of 484 cases is now 10,000 and prosecutors have begun dropping prosecutions rather than go toe-to-toe with judges unsympathetic to their requests for extensions. It's now apparent the retests won't be completed until sometime in 2018. To make matters worse, some of the tainted tests can't be retested because the samples have been destroyed or are no longer viable. And it's no longer just about driving under the influence charges. Randox, which has since seen its contracts with UK police forces suspended, also handled rape kits and investigations of suspicious deaths. To make matters worse, another government contractor is being investigated for similar misconduct. Potential data manipulation at a different facility, Trimega Laboratories, is also being investigated by Greater Manchester Police, said the NPCC. In these incidents, child protection and family court cases could be affected."
STORY: "UK Drug Lab Misconduct Calls 10,000 C:]onvictions And Prosecutions Into Question," published by Techdirt. (Wikipedia informs us that "Techdirt is an internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focusses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and copyright reform in particular."
GIST: "UK prosecutors are looking at the possibility of having a whole bunch of
convictions overturned, thanks to misconduct by a lab service
contracted by the government. Malfeasance at Randox Testing Service,
which handles toxicology tests for UK law enforcement, first came to light earlier this year when two of its employees were arrested. Hundreds of cases could be reviewed after two men who work at a laboratory used by police to test drug samples were arrested. Randox Testing Services (RTS) is used by forces across the UK to analyse samples used in prosecutions. Police chiefs said it had been told 484 cases handled by the firm since November 2015 may have been affected. The men, 47 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and bailed, police said. At the time, Randox offered to re-run tests handled by the two employees
and provided law enforcement with a list of cases affected. The bogus
tests affected far more than run of the mill driving under the influence
charges. In a few cases, convictions for vehicular homicide were placed under review. About 50 prosecutions have so far been dropped in what BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw described as "the biggest forensic science scandal in the UK for decades". Matthew Bravender is appealing against his conviction after pleading
guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the legal limit
for a prescribed drug[...] Also challenging his conviction is Anderson Ward, 39, who was jailed for causing the death of his girlfriend in a crash while he was high on drugs. Since then, the estimate of affected cases has skyrocketed. The original estimate of 484 cases is now 10,000
and prosecutors have begun dropping prosecutions rather than go
toe-to-toe with judges unsympathetic to their requests for extensions.
It's now apparent the retests won't be completed until sometime in 2018.
To make matters worse, some of the tainted tests can't be retested
because the samples have been destroyed or are no longer viable. And it's no longer just about driving under the influence charges.
Randox, which has since seen its contracts with UK police forces
suspended, also handled rape kits and investigations of suspicious
deaths. To make matters worse, another government contractor is being investigated for similar misconduct. Potential data manipulation at a different facility, Trimega
Laboratories, is also being investigated by Greater Manchester Police,
said the NPCC. In these incidents, child protection and family court cases could be affected. Nick Hurd, the minister for policing, fire and criminal justice, said all tests carried out by Trimega between 2010 and 2014 were currently being treated as "potentially unreliable". He also said due to "poor record-keeping practices", it may not be possible to identify all the customers affected. This is far more than problematic. It's devastating. It mirrors multiple forensic lab issues
uncovered here in the United States. Obviously, law enforcement
agencies don't have the manpower to handle testing in-house. So, these
are turned over to third parties. This wouldn't be an issue if there
were any direct oversight. But there doesn't appear to be anything like
that in place. When misconduct is finally uncovered, it has taken place
for years and tainted thousands of cases. If government agencies are sincere in their expressed concerns for
public safety, these failures to head off problems before they affect
10,000-20,000 cases are inexplicable. It undermines legitimate
convictions, putting criminals back on the street. It dead-ends
investigations because lab results are no longer trustworthy. Worse, it has the potential to land innocent people in jail. Faked
results and mishandled tests are used as evidence in criminal trials,
"proving" guilt when none exists. This is a problem everywhere, but it
seems authorities are more interested in post-debacle damage control
than rigorous oversight that could prevent this from happening in the
first place."
The entire story can be found at:
The entire story can be found at:
The UK; The USA; And feel free to add Australia to the list - as per the article - West Australia to revamp state-run pathology lab (December 11, 2017) at the link below: "Western
Australia's trouble-plagued, government-run laboratory will be made an
independent health service amid efforts to restore its reputation. A
series of blunders by PathWest, including a privacy breach and DNA
collection error, prompted two reviews into the pathology centre and an
investigation into 15 years worth of test samples. PathWest
will become a statutory authority governed by a chief executive board,
making it accountable under the Health Services Act 2016, Health
Minister Roger Cook announced on Monday. They will also address the findings and recommendations from both reviews. An
independent investigation of the forensic biology department said it
needed to be "urgently" upgraded as space was so inadequate staff were
risking the security of files by taking them home. The
review was prompted by the sacking of senior forensic biologist
Laurence Webb for breaching testing protocols, and the wrongful
conviction of a man in a DNA bungle, which sparked fears convictions
could be overturned in some of WA's highest profile murder cases. A
separate, public sector commission review came about after a female
employee divulged test results to her ex-husband of samples taken from
his new partner. Coming into effect in
July, the changes are covered under the existing budget and will not
affect industrial coverage of employees, Mr Cook said."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/wa-to-revamp-staterun-pathology-lab/news-story/8d06b621c3a8e1948ed5200d8ced8617
