STORY: “Labs false evidence imperils 1200 cases", by Queensland Political Reporter Lydia Lynch,” reported by The Australian, on December 2, 2022. (Lydia Lynch covers state and federal politics for The Australian in Queensland. She previously covered politics at Brisbane Times and has worked as a reporter at the North West Star in Mount Isa.)
GIST: “Doubt has been cast over more than 1000 Queensland criminal cases after forensic scientists at the government-run DNA laboratory made false statements in court for the past five years.
Retired Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff, who is overseeing a royal commission-style inquiry into the lab, made interim findings in September that scientists had made “untrue” statements to courts, prosecutors and victims of crime since early 2018.
The lab was ordered to compile a list of affected cases for police, and on Thursday Health Minister Yvette D’Ath told parliament there had been 1840 misleading statements made in court.
Queensland Health later revealed there were 1260 court cases affected by the incorrect statements, casting doubt over convictions and acquittals.
“First, you have to identify those samples, then they need to be prioritised as far as ongoing cases, past cases, matters that had not progressed to charges or to any prosecutions,” Ms D’Ath said. “Then it needs to be determined whether those tests need to be done or whether there were other samples that related to that case such that it is not necessary to go back to particular samples.”
Since 2018, if samples fell below Queensland’s unusually high testing threshold, they were reported by the lab as having “insufficient DNA” or “no DNA detected” to police and in the formal evidence statements scientists gave in court.
In his interim report, Mr Sofronoff found it was possible to extract “either a full or partial profile” below the threshold, meaning statements routinely produced by the lab were untrue.
Under questioning from the LNP in parliament on Thursday, Ms D’Ath said the misleading statements would be corrected.
“We have been working with stakeholders about the format in which those new statements should be issued,” she said.
“Statements will start being replaced or issued quite shortly.”
Liberal National Party justice spokesman Tim Nicholls said a reconstituted inquiry should receive and investigate complaints by victims who believe their matter may have been affected by the lab failings.
“The commission should also monitor the progress of those matters where a failure of the lab has been identified and most importantly, it should provide advice and ongoing support to victims of crime so they can be satisfied their matter has been properly heard and investigated.
“This will ensure no one is forgotten or left behind and is given every chance to see justice served.
“This is one of the most catastrophic failings of an institution in Queensland’s history.”
Ms Fentiman said a government taskforce, set up in September, was already reviewing impacted cases.
“There is a huge amount of work under way, not only in relation to witness statements and preparing new statements for those matters but also retesting individual samples,” she said.
“We will urgently resolve any cases where there has been a miscarriage of justice – there may be some appeals that come from this.”
Opposition spokeswoman for the prevention of sexual violence Amanda Camm said she had been contacted by a victim who was being denied access to her own forensic report.
Ms Camm said the woman called the government’s DNA hotline but was given no help.
Ms Fentiman said that was “absolutely not acceptable”.
“There have been a number of calls made to the hotline; if someone has had an unacceptable experience, please let us know so we can fix it.
“Please get in contact with my office.”
The entire story can be read at:
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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