The review by the Denver Crime Laboratory is separate from — and redundant to — CBI’s internal review of Woods’ cases. CBI reviewed more than 10,000 cases that Woods handled — including the 422 Denver cases — and found problems in 1,003 cases."
GIST: "The Denver Police Department says it will review reports of more than 400 sexual assault evidence kits tested by a now-charged former Colorado Bureau of Investigation scientist.
The at least 422 Denver kits were tested by Yvonne “Missy” Woods, who was a forensic laboratory scientist at CBI that now has allegations of mishandling more than 1,000 cases over her career and faces more than 100 charges related to cases. Denver police in a statement sent to FOX31 said the department’s crime lab will review the reports to see how many it needs to retest.
“Considering recent events and the allegations against former CBI Forensic Laboratory Scientist Missy Woods, the Denver Police Department Crime Laboratory has initiated a process to review the reports from at least 422 sexual assault evidence kits that were submitted by DPD to CBI and were tested by Ms. Woods over the past 12 years. Through this proactive effort, our crime laboratory will determine the number of sexual assault evidence kits it will re-test.”
Any offender profiles found in the subsequent retesting will be submitted to the Combined DNA Index-System for investigative leads, the department said. The department also said it will collaborate with DBI on the results of the review “in the interest of working together to serve victims in the best way possible.”
CBI had already reviewed these 422 cases as it went through the more than 10,000 cases Woods worked on, but the bureau said it welcomes DPD’s review.
“CBI continues to share those findings with affected law enforcement agencies and District Attorneys statewide,” CBI said in a statement. “We welcome the opportunity to work with the Denver Crime lab in its assessment to determine if any Denver PD cases warrant retesting.”
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
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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;
