PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Ring said this indicates a larger issue at CBI than the agency has indicated. “This has become about more than just one long-standing analyst tampering with evidence and deleting data, but it is also about the system failures of an accredited state crime lab, the people, and the processes that should have stopped this from happening over and over for years,” Ring wrote. “CBI’s comprehensive failure to address these issues within its DNA program means there have likely been hundreds of public defender clients who were given intentionally manipulated data and who were prosecuted with unreliable evidence.” Ring additionally said that the state public defender’s office has been seeking transparency about what happened and why, but said “CBI’s refusal to release the IA report has delayed and frustrated the process.” The state defender argued that the lab scandal can only be fairly addressed if clients and their lawyers can be apprised of the process. “The post-conviction process that many clients will now urgently need to navigate is complex and requires clients to have experienced counsel with resources,” Ring wrote. “While the state has provided millions of dollars to prosecutors and CBI, we trust the state will soon provide resources to the defense side to seek justice for our impacted clients.”
-----------------------------------------------------------
STORY: “Colorado’s public defender calls CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) report on forensic scientist ‘shocking, outrageous,’ KDVR (Digital producer) Heather Willard) reports on June 7, 2024.
GIST: "The Colorado Office of the State Public Defender issued a letter denouncing the process leading to the release of a recent internal affairs report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation regarding a former forensic scientist who was reported to have “anomalies” in her DNA analysis casework.
The report details numerous investigations dating back to 2014 about casework conducted by CBI DNA scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods for criminal cases that were prosecuted around the state. She worked at the agency for 29 years and investigators say upward of 3,000 cases could be impacted by issues.
“The report shows that many people at CBI knew about these problems and that some consciously chose to cover it up, which let it continue,” Colorado Public Defender Megan Ring wrote, also calling the misconduct discussed in the report “outrageous and shocking.”
“It could and should have been stopped years ago, but it wasn’t,” Ring wrote.
Woods’ actions were partly to blame for a plea deal accepted Thursday in Boulder, according to courtroom reports. It was the first prosecution in the state believed to be impacted by Woods’ work. She is accused of tampering with test results, and the internal affairs report issued Wednesday showed coworkers called her work into question several times during her career.
However, one coworker said Woods was the “golden child” of CBI’s forensic laboratories and that leadership thought her to be “amazing.”
In another statement provided to the internal affairs investigation, a coworker said Woods “was a star analyst, who got accolades for working many cases.” One CBI scientist noted examples of Woods deleting data or failing to include the proper controls in certain experiments. The scientists said that “deleting data increases the number of cases the scientist can work on because they are not spending time troubleshooting.”
Ring said this indicates a larger issue at CBI than the agency has indicated.
“This has become about more than just one long-standing analyst tampering with evidence and deleting data, but it is also about the system failures of an accredited state crime lab, the people, and the processes that should have stopped this from happening over and over for years,” Ring wrote. “CBI’s comprehensive failure to address these issues within its DNA program means there have likely been hundreds of public defender clients who were given intentionally manipulated data and who were prosecuted with unreliable evidence.”
Ring additionally said that the state public defender’s office has been seeking transparency about what happened and why, but said “CBI’s refusal to release the IA report has delayed and frustrated the process.” The state defender argued that the lab scandal can only be fairly addressed if clients and their lawyers can be apprised of the process.
“The post-conviction process that many clients will now urgently need to navigate is complex and requires clients to have experienced counsel with resources,” Ring wrote. “While the state has provided millions of dollars to prosecutors and CBI, we trust the state will soon provide resources to the defense side to seek justice for our impacted clients.”
State provided millions in funding to CBI for review
In January, the Colorado Department of Public Safety requested nearly $7.5 million to review and retest DNA samples Woods processed during her tenure.
As FOX31 has previously reported, Woods has been connected to some high-profile cases in Colorado, including the Kobe Bryant sex assault case that was eventually dropped in 2004 and the Alex Ewing hammer killings case, which was prosecuted in 2021. She also was recognized by the Polis administration in March 2022, receiving the Tom Clements Award for “Outstanding Service in Government.”
CBI said in January that this incident is isolated to Woods and is not a systemic issue, but the IA report calls that into question, as many coworkers appeared to have concerns about Woods’ work.
Woods was subject to quality reviews in 2014 and 2018, and one section of the IA report stated that the 2018 incident’s paperwork was not completed until 2021. A coworker told investigators that it is her “belief that Woods’ data manipulation was intentional” and her notes on the matter were not added to the 2018 repor
At least 656 cases were identified with an issue. Some cases had multiple issues, for about 784 total issues identified, and the report stated that there were 227 independent, intentional actions recorded that were intended to manipulate, change or delete data.
The report concluded that “Woods’ conduct is very likely to bring CBI in disrepute, reflects discredit upon Woods as a (former) CBI member, and impairs the operation, effectiveness, or efficiency of the CBI as it has and will require additional fiscal expenditures for extensive additional examination and analysis to rectify.”
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'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;
—————————————————————————————————
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;
————————————————————————————
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.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
————————————————————————————
