BACKGROUND: "Louisville police pay millions to use Florida DNA lab due to years-long backlog inn Kentucky…While 0000 are coming much quicker, court officials say the the lab is violating the constitutional rights of defendants."…"While the quicker turnaround in evidence has been a benefit, some issues with the Florida lab have raised questions, confusion and problems for defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges. In fact, one judge is threatening to hold the lab in contempt for failing to follow orders that she said violates the constitutional rights of the defense. For starters, the lab has prohibited experts for the defense from being present or at least watch on Zoom when DNA testing may consume or destroy all of the sample — a right the defense has in Kentucky. Last July, a prosecutor in the murder case of Elton Pulliam told Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Sarah Clay no in-person testing was allowed in the Florida lab. "They will never allow someone to be brought in to observe — ever," said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Morgan Profumo, according to a video of the hearing. And the defense was going to be charged $10,000 to watch video of DNA testing, she said. "We've been trying to get ahold of the procedures and we can't get ahold of anything from the lab," Profumo said. "I can't even get direct contact with the lab so I'm having to go through an LMPD officer, who is a liaison with the lab. ... It's nonsensical, if I do say so myself."
-----------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE DAY: ""I do believe that there's a degree of potential arrogance or, ignorance or I don't even know what the term is and not necessarily, the, the LMPD at this point, but at the staff or at the laboratory level itself," said attorney Mark Hall, who is representing Matthews. "They're ignoring an order. They didn't read the order." Other defense attorneys have complained about the same issue in recent months while prosecutors have told judges they have been unable to contact the lab directly, instead having to go through police. Clay declined to hold anyone in contempt, ruling that the lab did not intentionally violate her order."
----------------------------------------------
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In fact, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Sarah Clay threatened to hold the lab in contempt for failing to follow her orders and allow an expert for the defense to oversee testing of evidence in the Frederick Matthews murder case. "Literally everyone that was subject to this court order was willfully ignorant of it," Clay said on March 18, after police and lab officials acknowledged the error in testimony. "I find it shocking that so many people would receive an order … and not read it." In Kentucky, the defense has the right to oversee the testing of evidence, which Clay ordered in the Matthews case, but testimony in recent weeks showed LMPD and six people at the lab failed to read her order and never contacted Matthews' attorney or the prosecution. "I find it truly troubling," Clay said. It is unclear what will happen with Matthews' case, although prosecutors have volunteered to move forward without the evidence tested by the lab."
---------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Louisville police, crime lab admit mistakes were made in handling evidence in murder case," by Reporter Jason Riley, published WDRB on March 11. 2025. (Jason Riley is a criminal justice reporter for WDRB.com. He joined WDRB News in 2013 after 14 years with The Courier-Journal. He graduated from Western Kentucky University. ) Thanks to Dr. Michael Bowers of 'Forensics and Law in Focus, for bringing this story to our attention. HL.
SUB-HEADING: "Louisville Judge Sarah Clay called the issues 'baffling' and 'shocking' and pressed for changes in LMPD's process of dealing with a private lab in getting evidence tested."
GIST: "A local judge has called the handling of evidence in a murder case by Louisville police and its private crime lab "baffling" and "shocking," criticizing the current testing process and pressing for changes to be made.
Louisville Metro Police is one of a few departments in the state now using a private Florida DNA laboratory, DNA Labs International or DLI, for testing evidence from murders, violent crimes and sex crimes instead of the severely backlogged Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratory.
Getting evidence tested at the KSP lab can take years while the standard turnaround for results from the Florida lab is six to eight weeks. The department, which pays the lab about $2.3 million a year, can get results even quicker, if it pays more.
But while the faster turnaround in evidence has been a huge benefit, some issues with the Florida lab have raised questions, confusion and problems for defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges.
In fact, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Sarah Clay threatened to hold the lab in contempt for failing to follow her orders and allow an expert for the defense to oversee testing of evidence in the Frederick Matthews murder case.
"Literally everyone that was subject to this court order was willfully ignorant of it," Clay said on March 18, after police and lab officials acknowledged the error in testimony. "I find it shocking that so many people would receive an order … and not read it."
In Kentucky, the defense has the right to oversee the testing of evidence, which Clay ordered in the Matthews case, but testimony in recent weeks showed LMPD and six people at the lab failed to read her order and never contacted Matthews' attorney or the prosecution.
"I find it truly troubling," Clay said.
It is unclear what will happen with Matthews' case, although prosecutors have volunteered to move forward without the evidence tested by the lab.
"I do believe that there's a degree of potential arrogance or, ignorance or I don't even know what the term is and not necessarily, the, the LMPD at this point, but at the staff or at the laboratory level itself," said attorney Mark Hall, who is representing Matthews. "They're ignoring an order. They didn't read the order."
Other defense attorneys have complained about the same issue in recent months while prosecutors have told judges they have been unable to contact the lab directly, instead having to go through police.
Clay declined to hold anyone in contempt, ruling that the lab did not intentionally violate her order.
"Although DLI violated the Order by failing to make any effort to coordinate with the defense Expert in conducting testing, the violation was not willful because no one at DLI, or LMPD for that matter, read the entirety of the four-sentence Order," Clay wrote in her March 20 ruling. "The Court therefore finds DLI's ignorance of the Order negligent rather than willful."
Still, she said, that excuse will not be accepted again, in her courtroom or others in Louisville.
"The Court will not be so gracious if similar issues arise again," Clay said in her order.
"They are certainly on notice now, if they weren't before," Clay said of the lab during the hearing. "I truly find this baffling."
Some of the problems exposed during the contempt hearing testimony include:
• The Florida lab "overlooked" the order that the defense should be allowed to oversee the DNA testing in the Matthews case, according to DLI International's quality insurance manager, Marybeth Sciaretta.
"It was a complete oversight on our laboratory's end … It was not intentional," she testified in February.
• A subsequent investigation by the lab found a half dozen other similar cases where the lab did not notice orders for the defense to be present for testing, but the issues were worked out and haven't hurt the prosecution of any other cases.
"Last week I was brought in to investigate it and … implement processes to ensure that this is not to happen again," Sciaretta testified on Feb. 27. "Meetings have occurred company wide to ensure all personnel are aware of our steps moving forward."
• At least some prosecutors have not been able to have direct contact with the lab, deferring to police.
This has led to instances where the prosecution and defense have not been able to ensure the testing is done in accordance with court orders.
"In the future the commonwealth will have direct contact with the lab," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Virginia Call told Clay.
• The LMPD liaison with the lab acknowledged that he does not fully read the court orders, except to determine what items are being tested, Sgt. Matthew Kennington testified in late March.
Judge Clay: "Whose job is it to make sure the order is being read fully by someone at LMPD?
Kennington: "I don't think anybody at LMPD … I guess it would be, I don't want to lie. I don't know who it would fall under. I'm sorry."
A spokesman for Louisville police said in a statement that, "Everyone to whom the court order pertains should review the court's order. This includes the police, the prosecution and the lab. Steps have been taken to ensure that LMPD is reviewing the court orders before sending them to the lab."
To be clear, court officials and police point out that the quicker results for DNA testing has helped resolve cases quicker, reducing the backlog of pending cases and lessening the time victims and defendants must wait for justice.
The mistakes have occurred in only a small minority of the total cases, and for the most part caused limited damage.
"We're all learning about how to deal with DNA Labs International," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Layla Lutfi said in a different case where there have been similar problems. "This is part of the growing pains."
As for Matthews' case, the prosecution offered to go to trial without the DNA, to have it tested again at the department's expense with a defense expert present or provide the evidence to the defense to have tested themselves.
Hall, Matthews' attorney, told Judge Clay the DNA may have evidence proving his client wasn't involved so "unfortunately we can't really do anything until that testing is completed."
A request by Hall to release Matthews on home incarceration was denied.
Matthews has pleaded not guilty to beating another man to death in Louisville's Saint Denis neighborhood in 2023. He is charged with murder and burglary.
The fatal assault happened March 16 on Oboe Drive near Shanks Lane and Cane Run Road.
The Louisville Metro Police Department said Matthews hit 63-year-old George Sledd in the head with an unknown object several times.
Court records said Sledd suffered a heart attack during the assault, broken ribs and head injuries. He died at the hospital.
Police said a witness identified Matthews as the man who "forcibly entered the house and assaulted the victim in the living room."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am grateful to 'Authory' a valuable service which creates a portfolio of all of my posts since I fired my first post into the cybersphere on the Charles Smith Blog on September 29, 2007, some 17 years ago. Today's post is number 11, 784 Yikes! Yes, this is a compulsion, but it's a healthy one ! One of the best features of 'Authory' (which I am trying out on the Blog for the first time, is a search engine for the portfolio which makes it easier for readers to follow the many important cases, issues and developments (and occasional rants) in the area of flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, and whatever else might cross my mind in jurisdictions throughout the world which are at the heart of the Blog. So, dear reader, you can access the portfolio at the following link. Just type the inquiry into the search box at the following link, and hit enter. (The search box is on the top write side of the page under 'Read more.' Why not try it out, and, as encouraging use of this search function by my readers is rather new to me, any feedback on how it is working would be appreciated at: hlevy15@gmail.com. Cheers!
https://authory.com/HaroldLevy
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
——————————————————————————————
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/
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/
——————————————————————————————
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;
