BACKGROUND: "When he died, cold-case detectives were investigating Brown, 62, for his possible involvement in the 1984 strangulation of 14-year-old Claire Hough at Torrey Pines State Beach. They’d linked him through DNA testing to sperm cells found on a vaginal swab collected during the autopsy. According to the lawsuit, detectives recklessly rejected the most obvious explanation for the sperm: accidental cross-contamination in the police lab. Brown had worked there then as a criminalist. He didn’t process the Hough evidence, but he and others routinely kept their own semen samples on hand as known standards to check the efficacy of testing methods, the suit says. It describes contamination by lab employees as “a well-recognized, well-documented, and frequent occurrence,” and identifies 41 instances of it happening at the San Diego Police Department since 2001.Brown suffered from depression and anxiety most of his life, and the suit says his final downward spiral can be tied to unconstitutional police misconduct during the investigation. It accuses the lead detective, Michael Lambert, of misleading a judge when he got him to sign a search warrant, omitting key facts about possible lab contamination, and downplaying the criminal behavior of a convicted rapist who was also tied to the murder through DNA testing."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Lambert also obtained a warrant to search Brown’s home in January 2014, and the lawsuit alleges he downplayed Tatro’s connection to the Hough murder, and the “lone wolf” nature of his other crimes, to mislead the judge into signing it. The suit notes that Lambert told the judge Tatro’s DNA had been found in “two locations” on the victim’s clothes; the tests located about a dozen spots of his blood on her jeans and underwear. A pubic hair belonging to him was also found in her underwear. The detective testified Monday that when he wrote “two locations” he was referring to general areas, the front and back of the jeans. Police removed 14 cardboard boxes, four plastic trash bags and a suitcase full of items from Brown’s Chula Vista home. Nothing inside showed any link between Brown and Tatro, Lambert said. Brown’s widow, Rebecca, began testifying Monday afternoon about the effect of the investigation on her husband. She’s due back on the stand Tuesday morning."
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STORY: "Detective describes ‘ruse’ aimed at pressuring criminalist who later committed suicide," by Staff Writer John Wilkens, published by The San Diego Union Tribune on February 10, 2020.
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GIST: "San Diego police detective Michael Lambert had a problem. DNA tests from a 30-year-old murder he was investigating pointed to two suspects. One was a convicted rapist. The other was a retired police criminalist named Kevin Brown. But there was no evidence the two ever met, let alone acted in concert to mutilate and murder 14-year-old Claire Hough on Torrey Pines State Beach in the August 1984. He eventually concocted a connection, the detective testified Monday in San Diego federal court, where he is being sued by Brown’s widow. Brown, 62, killed himself while he was under investigation for the murder, and the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for wrongful death and civil-rights violations. Lambert denies any wrongdoing in the investigation. When he got the case in December 2012, recent DNA tests had found Brown’s sperm cells on a vaginal swab taken from the victim during her autopsy. The tests also linked blood on the victim’s clothes to the convicted rapist, Ronald Tatro, who died in 2011. For a year, Lambert looked without success for a connection between the two men. He surmised they traveled in similar circles, such as going to strip clubs, but he had no proof. So before he went to Brown’s home to interview him in January 2014, he came up with a ruse, he testified Monday. He had a colleague write up a fake police report claiming officers had once stopped Tatro while he was driving around, and that Tatro had told them he knew Brown. The ruse wasn’t illegal. Police in general can lie about evidence when they are interviewing suspects. In this case, Brown was shown the report and he denied knowing Tatro. He was shown a photo of Tatro, and another of Tatro’s van, and again said he didn’t know him. But according to the lawsuit, the interview was part of a reckless police investigation that ignored a more-likely explanation for the sperm DNA — Brown and other criminalists kept their own semen in the lab to use for testing — and eventually caused Brown to hang himself in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in October 2014. Lambert also obtained a warrant to search Brown’s home in January 2014, and the lawsuit alleges he downplayed Tatro’s connection to the Hough murder, and the “lone wolf” nature of his other crimes, to mislead the judge into signing it. The suit notes that Lambert told the judge Tatro’s DNA had been found in “two locations” on the victim’s clothes; the tests located about a dozen spots of his blood on her jeans and underwear. A pubic hair belonging to him was also found in her underwear. The detective testified Monday that when he wrote “two locations” he was referring to general areas, the front and back of the jeans. Police removed 14 cardboard boxes, four plastic trash bags and a suitcase full of items from Brown’s Chula Vista home. Nothing inside showed any link between Brown and Tatro, Lambert said. Brown’s widow, Rebecca, began testifying Monday afternoon about the effect of the investigation on her husband. She’s due back on the stand Tuesday morning."
