Many attorneys have asked me what should be included in a lab report from the State Crime Lab. Often in District Court DWI cases or through discovery, defense attorneys receive only a 1-2 page report called a Lab Report. For each case that is analyzed by the State Crime Laboratory, the lab produces a Case …
Crime Labs
Director of North Carolina State Crime Laboratory position posted
The North Carolina State Crime Laboratory has posted the position of lab director. The lab is seeking a candidate with a Bachelor’s degree, preferably in the physical or biological sciences with eight years of laboratory experience. The posting is open through November 25, 2013. Here is a link to the posting which describes additional qualifications. …
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Sample Motion for Independent Testing of Evidence
Defense attorneys may decide to make a motion for independent testing of forensic evidence in cases where either the State has chosen not to complete forensic testing of an item of evidence or where the State has tested the item and the defense would like it to be re-tested. This issue has come up more …
New State Crime Lab limits on items of evidence to be tested
The North Carolina State Crime Lab has released new Evidence Submission Guidelines (See Special Notice #3, starting on p. 6 of 71), effective for items of evidence submitted on or after September 1, 2013. Of special note are new limits on the number of items of evidence that law enforcement may submit in cases. The …
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Changes to Protocols for DNA Interpretation
Recently, the State Crime Lab has undergone several rounds of changes and updates to their protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the analysis and interpretation of DNA evidence. Attorneys should be aware of these changes and that only cases worked on or after the effective date will be subject to the new policies. Previously-worked …
Substitute Analyst cases update
The NC Supreme Court decided several cases in June that dealt with the admissibility of testimony by substitute forensic analysts. The lead case in this series is State v. Ortiz-Zape, a case in which a forensic chemist testified for the state regarding the results that a non-testifying analyst produced using the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer …
Accreditation of local crime labs
For those of you who have been tracking the provision in the Forensic Sciences Act of 2011 that requires local crime labs to become accredited, a bill has been introduced to extend the time for local crime labs to become accredited to July 1, 2020. Below are links to the relevant legislation: Forensic Sciences Act …
National Commission on Forensic Science to be created
On nearly the four year anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report which sharply criticized the forensic science system in the United States, the federal government announced the establishment of a National Commission on Forensic Science. The NAS Report recommended an overhaul of the current forensic system, including urging the establishment of a …
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Part 3: ISO and the NC Forensic Sciences Act of 2011
This is the third in a three-part series on lab accreditation, analyst certification, and ISO-compliant lab procedures by Ryan Niland. In response to concerns about the failures of the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory (formerly known as the SBI lab), North Carolina passed the Forensic Sciences Act (FSA) in 2011. Among other things, the FSA …
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Part 2: The Lab Accreditation Process
This is the second in a three-part series on lab accreditation, analyst certification, and ISO-compliant lab procedures by Ryan Niland. Several major organizations offer accreditation services for forensic labs in the United States. The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) is by far the largest accrediting body for forensic labs, followed by …
Part 1: What’s the difference between accreditation and certification?
This is the first in a three-part series on lab accreditation, analyst certification, and ISO-compliant lab procedures by Ryan Niland. Understanding the distinctions between lab accreditation and analyst certification can be important when critically examining forensic analyses. Although both processes relate to quality assurance for forensic analysis, the term accreditation generally applies to laboratories as …
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Crime lab backlogs and the Massachusetts lab scandal
Many readers are probably aware of the scandal unfolding in the Massachusetts State Police lab, where chemist Annie Dookhan has been charged with obstructing justice by falsifying data in criminal cases and lying under oath about her qualifications. Dookhan was responsible for testing substances that were suspected to be drugs. An October 9, 2012 article …
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Oregon State Police Questioned Document Unit Under Review
Criminal cases that utilized handwriting analysis performed by the Oregon State Police Forensic Services Division are being re-examined after it was uncovered earlier this year that Oregon State Police handwriting analysts may have tainted evidence in those cases. The Questioned Document Unit, which handles handwriting analysis, was shut down in April of this year after …
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NC State Crime Lab Rolls Out New ISO Procedures
On Monday, September 17, 2012, the NC State Crime Lab began operating under a new set of procedures modeled after International Organization for Standardization (ISO) procedures. The new procedures are posted here. Any analysis conducted by the lab on or after September 17 will be performed according to the new procedures. Attorneys should be careful …
SBI to Begin Using New Reference Standard to Assist Examiners in Identifying Cartridge Casings
A new reference standard for comparing cartridge casings has been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The standard is known as SRM 2461, Standard Casing. It was developed to assist firearms examiners by ensuring that the equipment used to match cartridge cases to those in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network …