PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In his order, Sengheiser wrote: “It is clear that the only reason the Court is asked to make this decision is because of unexplained delay and mismanagement of the CAO. Normally, a hearing like this is not even necessary. However, there has been nothing but silence and delay from the CAO. The Court is simply not willing to risk the health and safety of people working in the crime laboratory because the CAO wants to look into old cases it likely cannot prosecute anyway due to the statute of limitations. Moreover, if it could prosecute those cases, it certainly should have told someone since there have been numerous inquiries since March 2021.”
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STORY: "St. Louis judge orders destruction of evidence at lab 'drowning in drugs,'" by Reporter Christine Byers, published by KSDK, on Nov. 8, 2022.
SUB-HEADING: "A judge has ordered evidence from nearly 7,000 drug cases be destroyed to eliminate the health risk it poses to crime lab workers in St. Louis."
KSDK
GIST "Police leaders are accusing St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner of allowing drug evidence and unclaimed property to pile up, and now a judge has ordered evidence from nearly 7,000 drug cases be destroyed to eliminate the health risk it poses to crime lab workers.
Judge Jason Sengheiser issued his order at about 5 p.m. Monday, just hours after a 45-minute hearing.
Assistant St. Louis City Counselor Ray Flojo argued fentanyl and marijuana have backed up at the crime lab, and Gardner’s office failed to respond to routine requests to destroy the evidence for almost two years.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department filed suit against Gardner’s office Oct. 5, saying some of the drugs had developed mold and posed a safety risk to crime analysts who work there.
Gardner’s Assistant Circuit Attorney Rob Huq opened the hearing Monday by saying a cursory review of the cases showed at least 30 cases of the 6,890 cases in question were still open, and Gardner’s staff would need at least six more months to review them.
Flojo said the cases Huq cited dated to 2015 and 2019, the statute of limitations had likely run out on them, and most of them were drug possession cases.
Flojo added Gardner’s office has had the list of thousands of cases to review since March 2021.
Sengheiser said he understood Huq’s concern, but added: “What am I supposed to tell the crime lab about how they're supposed to do their jobs on a day-to-day basis because you guys have delayed this since 2021. I mean, I haven't heard any reasonable explanation as to why there was no response from that time until now.”
The judge asked Huq why there had not been any response.
Huq said, “I cannot speak to that.”
In his order, Sengheiser wrote: “It is clear that the only reason the Court is asked to make this decision is because of unexplained delay and mismanagement of the CAO. Normally, a hearing like this is not even necessary. However, there has been nothing but silence and delay from the CAO. The Court is simply not willing to risk the health and safety of people working in the crime laboratory because the CAO wants to look into old cases it likely cannot prosecute anyway due to the statute of limitations. Moreover, if it could prosecute those cases, it certainly should have told someone since there have been numerous inquiries since March 2021.”
Gardner refused a request for an interview and issued a statement, which read: “In every case, the Circuit Attorney’s Office is dedicated to ensuring that the office carries out its duty to prosecute criminal cases in a manner that seeks justice on behalf of the residents of the City of St. Louis. In order for justice to be served, the CAO is committed to ensuring evidence necessary for cases that remain open or have a possibility of appeal is not destroyed.”
In an email obtained by KSDK, Assistant Crime Lab Director Mary Beth Carr forwarded emails dating to March 2021 to Gardner’s Chief Warrant Officer Chris Hinckley.
In May 2021, she asked if he could help with the situation and added, “We’re drowning in drugs.”
He responded two hours later, stating, “’Drowning in drugs’…interesting. I’ll see what I can do.”
Carr checked in with Hinckley again in November 2021, but did not receive a response."
Go here for KSDK's full report.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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