Johnson’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, said he brought up problems with Hong’s analysis in that case, but was waved off by crime lab officials. “Three years ago, the crime lab director insisted Hong did nothing wrong before he even had a chance to fully study the allegations. Here we go again, with the crime lab assuring everyone there is no problem, when there are clearly many.” Sanders said Wednesday. “If we are correct about Hong, it means a lot of cases need to be reviewed, and that’s the last thing the crime lab wants.”
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SUB-HEADING: "Veteran lab analyst Mary Hong was accused by defense lawyers of altering her findings to benefit prosecutors
GIST: "Last April, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer ordered a review into a star crime lab analyst accused by defense attorneys of altering her findings to support prosecutors.
Spitzer then asked the Sheriff’s Department, which manages the crime lab, to conduct the review, effectively having the crime lab investigate itself.
The Sheriff’s Department now has concluded its probe and cleared former county analyst Mary Hong of having any “issues.”
Defense attorneys, however, are crying foul at the sheriff’s conclusion, alleging the department has a conflict of interest.
They question why the district attorney didn’t do its own review of Hong’s analyses. They also question why the defense attorneys who first found discrepancies in Hong’s work weren’t interviewed as part of the review.
Hong’s record was again called into question last month during a rape trial against defendant Kevin Konther, but the prosecutor assured the court that Hong had been investigated and cleared.
“We were told by the OCDA that its decision not to turn over evidence regarding Ms. Hong was based upon a careful analysis by the prosecutor’s office,” said Deputy Public Defender Jessica Sweeny, who represented Konther. “Now we find out it was actually the crime lab ‘investigating’ one of its own. That’s beyond problematic.”
Konther ultimately was convicted.
The Hong probe was ordered by Spitzer after his office was forced to offer a plea deal to a man accused of the 1988 murder and rape of a Buena Park woman. Instead of facing a life sentence, defendant Daniel McDermott was allowed to enter a plea to a lesser charge and released with credit for nine years served behind bars.
The deal was made partly because Hong couldn’t support her earlier conclusion that McDermott’s DNA was found on the victim’s wrist.
Assistant Public Defender Chuck Hasse accused Hong of earlier altering her analysis to show the DNA belonged to McDermott when the data revealed that it was possibly inconclusive.
Hasse said Hong had “cooked the books,” yet the district attorney’s office and the Sheriff’s Department did not reach out to him as part of their review
“I seriously wonder how the D.A. and sheriffs can say that she was cleared when they don’t really understand what she’s accused of doing.
They never reached out to me once the (McDermott) case was over, which would have enabled them to either explore or negate what the defense unearthed,” Hasse said Wednesday, March 8.
“The public deserves a real investigation on this matter.”
Hong was once Orange County’s cold case queen, having played a pivotal role in solving high-profile crimes. She was featured in several true crime television shows and in a best-selling book on California’s Golden State Killer.
Hong, who now works for the state Department of Justice, became a forensic star in latex gloves. Crime writers described the lab-coated Hong as methodical and intrepid, having a “scientist’s dispassion.” In one case, a prosecutor speaking to the jury likened the work done by Hong and the crime lab to Galileo and Copernicus.
But in the recent Konther rape case, Hong displayed trepidation about taking the witness stand, asking prosecutor Juliet Oliver if she would “protect” her, according to Sweeny.
The district attorney’s office had little to say this week about the review and its findings.
In a statement Tuesday, Kimberly Edds, spokesperson for the office, said: “We were informed the sheriff’s department completed their review and they were confident there were no issues regarding Mary Hong.”
Edds would not comment further. Sheriff’s officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Two other Orange County murder convictions also were called into question based on the suspicion that Hong and other lab workers tailored their testimony to benefit the prosecution. Both are cold cases from the mid-1980s that were believed to have been solved in the late 2000s. One case is under appeal. Defense attorneys in the other case used the crime lab discrepancy to avoid the death penalty for defendant Lynn Dean Johnson.
Johnson’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, said he brought up problems with Hong’s analysis in that case, but was waved off by crime lab officials.
“Three years ago, the crime lab director insisted Hong did nothing wrong before he even had a chance to fully study the allegations. Here we go again, with the crime lab assuring everyone there is no problem, when there are clearly many.” Sanders said Wednesday. “If we are correct about Hong, it means a lot of cases need to be reviewed, and that’s the last thing the crime lab wants.”
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/03/08/oc-sheriff-probes-own-crime-lab-at-request-of-district-attorney-and-finds-nothing-wrongPUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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