QUOTES OF THE DAY: "According to the internal affairs report, concerns regarding Woods' work were noted years ago, but Woods continued working. "It's scary to think that these types of errors could have occurred," said Defense Attorney Michael Faye. "It's also scary to think that they weren't caught by their quality control people." Faye represents Jefferson. It's because of both Faye and prosecutors' fight in court for more information about the DNA debacle at CBI during the Jefferson case that a Douglas County judge issued a ruling that "authorized additional disclosures in any case... where Woods handled, analyzed, or otherwise worked on evidence... even in "any closed or inactive case."
———————————————————————----
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Meanwhile, Faye says it will likely take years for all of the potentially impacted cases to be reviewed or retried. "I've been contacted by multiple clients from cases as old as 15 years ago, because Ms. Woods was involved in their DNA testing on their cases," Fay said. "We've been contacted by multiple clients about their possible remedies going forward."
---------------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Colorado prosecutors writing to inmates about DNA evidence manipulation that could overturn convictions," by Reporter Kati Weiss, published by CBS Colorado, on July 3, 2024.
The District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District, which includes both Arapahoe and Douglas counties, sent a letter last week to dozens of prison inmates about potential issues with DNA evidence in their cases, and their right to obtain protected documents that could help them challenge their convictions.
In the letter, DA John Kellner said his office was complying "with the prosecution's legal and ethical responsibilities" by providing the information to defendants in cases potentially impacted by allegations of DNA manipulation at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Kellner's office drafted the letter following a recent court ruling out of Douglas County involving a cold case.
Back in 2021, Michael Jefferson was arrested in the murder of Roger Dean, 51, in the area that is now Lone Tree. It was a murder prosecutors claim Jefferson committed more than 30 years ago.
Investigators said Jefferson's 2021 arrest was made possible by advancements in DNA testing.
But this year, the legitimacy of that DNA was called into question, following an internal affairs report from CBI, alleging one of its star forensics analysts, Yvonne "Missy" Woods, manipulated and intentionally deleted some DNA results in many cases spanning more than a decade.
According to the internal affairs report, concerns regarding Woods' work were noted years ago, but Woods continued working.
"It's scary to think that these types of errors could have occurred," said Defense Attorney Michael Faye. "It's also scary to think that they weren't caught by their quality control people."
Faye represents Jefferson. It's because of both Faye and prosecutors' fight in court for more information about the DNA debacle at CBI during the Jefferson case that a Douglas County judge issued a ruling that "authorized additional disclosures in any case... where Woods handled, analyzed, or otherwise worked on evidence... even in "any closed or inactive case."
According to the letter Kellner's office sent to inmates last week, any defendant whose case may have involved Woods' expertise is entitled to review protected documents about the investigation against her. Experts say that's important, so people convicted of crimes can have all of the pertinent information they need to ensure their justice proceedings were, or will be, fair.
"It's important for people to have the information. The government's not always so keen on being forthcoming with information like this, and you have to fight to get it," Faye said. "So, we're happy that that's now available to other defendants."
As to how many inmates received the letter, a spokesperson for Kellner's office says, "approximately 67 cases have been labeled as 'impacted' according to the limited information our Office has received from CBI. The letters would have been sent related to those impacted cases."
A CBI spokesperson says letters like Kellner's is not unique to Douglas and Arapahoe, that "it is similar to what most DA's statewide are sending to inmates."
Meanwhile, Faye says it will likely take years for all of the potentially impacted cases to be reviewed or retried.
"I've been contacted by multiple clients from cases as old as 15 years ago, because Ms. Woods was involved in their DNA testing on their cases," Fay said. "We've been contacted by multiple clients about their possible remedies going forward."
CBI has requested more than $7 million from the state to pay for retesting and post-conviction review costs.
Woods' attorney, Ryan Brackley, sent the following written statement to CBS News Colorado, saying:
"We understand and appreciate the District Attorneys' obligations to notify defendants of any information that may be exculpatory, whether or not it is. Every criminal defense attorney has an obligation to determine if the issues at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation should impact each of their clients' cases or even change the outcome of any case, open or closed. This is especially pertinent given CBI lab management's likely awareness of those issues going back to at least 2018."
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;
