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: "Officers served the warrant as part of a homicide investigation after Brown’s DNA was found on vaginal swabs from the cold-case murder of Claire Hough, 14, at Torrey Pines. Brown’s widow, Rebecca Brown, sued for damages alleging the DNA hit was the result of contamination in the SDPD crime lab where Brown worked for 20 years. Earlier testimony revealed that Brown and other workers routinely brought their own semen into the SDPD lab in 1984 to be used as control samples. Plaintiffs claim another SDPD detective, Michael Lambert, did not mention the possibility of DNA contamination when he obtained the 2014 search warrant for Brown’s home. The broad seizure of personal items from Brown’s home contributed to his suicide, according to the lawsuit. Rebecca Brown believes the stress of being named a homicide suspect also led to her husband’s suicide by hanging in October 2014."
STORY: "Detective testifies in lawsuit over death of SDPD crime lab employee," by Investogative Producer David Gotfredson, published by CBS8 on February 5, 2020.
SUB-HEADING: "Often, DNA is a slam dunk in criminal cases, but it's not that simple this time."
GIST: A retired homicide detective took the witness stand in federal court Wednesday as one of the defendants in a lawsuit alleging wrongful death of a SDPD crime lab employee. The employee, Kevin Brown, committed suicide in 2014 after he became a suspect in the 1984 murder of a teenage girl at Torrey Pines State Beach. Detective Maura Mekenas-Parga testified it was her job to keep a written log of evidence seized from Brown’s home in Chula Vista when officers served a search warrant in January 2014. “None of us wanted to be there. This was one of our own,” Mekenas-Parga said on the stand. Questioning focused on items taken from Brown’s home – including thousands of photographs, magazines, diaries, and personal documents – that may have fallen outside the scope of the search warrant. Mekenas-Parga described her job as that of a “scribe” during the warrant operation. “It was the case agent’s job to review the photographs. I was just the collector,” she testified. Officers served the warrant as part of a homicide investigation after Brown’s DNA was found on vaginal swabs from the cold-case murder of Claire Hough, 14, at Torrey Pines. Brown’s widow, Rebecca Brown, sued for damages alleging the DNA hit was the result of contamination in the SDPD crime lab where Brown worked for 20 years. Earlier testimony revealed that Brown and other workers routinely brought their own semen into the SDPD lab in 1984 to be used as control samples. Plaintiffs claim another SDPD detective, Michael Lambert, did not mention the possibility of DNA contamination when he obtained the 2014 search warrant for Brown’s home. The broad seizure of personal items from Brown’s home contributed to his suicide, according to the lawsuit. Rebecca Brown believes the stress of being named a homicide suspect also led to her husband’s suicide by hanging in October 2014. Brown had a history of “major depression” and anxiety going back to the 1980s, according to court testimony presented Wednesday afternoon by San Diego forensic psychologist Dr. Clark Clipson. Clipson testified Brown had issues with anger management but no criminal history whatsoever. Testimony continues Thursday in the federal courtroom of Judge Dana Sabraw. Court will not be in session Friday."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.cbs8.com/article/
PUBLISHER'S
NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles
Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous
employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable
effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his
protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric
pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on
recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
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FINAL
WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever
there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal
system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent
future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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