11 News Defenders investigate the HPD crime lab

11/14/2002

By Anna Werner / 11 News Defenders

Click to watch video

HOUSTON (KHOU)--It’s bad enough when someone who may be innocent goes to prison because the HPD crime lab might have made an error. But what happens when those kinds of mistakes mean another criminal might not get caught?

One of the reasons to have a good police crime lab is to identify and find criminals on the loose. But has bad lab work by the Houston Police Department let some criminals stay free? That’s a question the 11 News Defenders looked at in a three-month investigation.

Anna: “I just wanted to see if I could get a comment from you about that?”

Meet Don Krueger, administrator of the HPD crime lab.

Krueger: “I've been instructed I can't. I explained that.”

Anna: “Why do you think these experts are telling us that they're seeing such serious mistakes at your crime lab?”

Krueger: “Again I can't tell you my opinions on that now.”

Dr. William Thompson is a nationally known expert on DNA and scientific evidence in the courts. He's one of several specialists we gave seven HPD crime lab cases to evaluate.

Thompson: “I think that efforts need to be made to look into the practice of the crime lab. They are stating things/that are not scientifically supported by the lab results that they recorded.”

For example:

Thompson: “I see serious problems with the Palacios case.”

Patrick Palacios was found guilty of the murder of a 67-year-old woman who lived here. And Palacios confessed to the crime. So what’s the problem?

Thompson: “The lab report paints a picture in which only the defendant is involved.”

And?

Thompson: “The lab report is wrong.”

For example, a comforter found at the crime scene: the lab said it had DNA consistent with the victim and Palacios.

However:

Thompson: “What the actual DNA results suggest is that it's a mixture of the victim and somebody else who couldn't be the defendant.”

Anna: “So the lab is saying that this is his DNA on the comforter, but what does the data really show?”

Thompson: “It's somebody else's. It couldn't be his DNA.”

And that raises a troubling question.

Thompson: “Whether the crime was committed by one person or two, or whether someone else could have been involved.”

And he says:

Thompson: “The jury never gets to hear or never learns that there appears to be another man in this case.”

But Thompson says it could even mean:

Thompson: “That the true criminals are out there continuing to prey on society.”

Cynthia Orr is a defense attorney. “There's more controls on dog food labs than there are on forensic labs in this country.”

Orr: “They're reviewed and audited independently on a six month basis.”

Through her practice she's has become something of an authority on problem crime labs.

Orr: “For forensic labs they're left to their own devices.”

Especially in Texas.

Orr: “In Texas, we have labs that aren't even allowing defense lawyers to check their work, that are destroying their samples. You can't have any confidence in that system, none whatsoever.”

Take her most famous case involving the Bexar County Crime lab and a client sitting on death row for murder.

Orr: “I examined the experts report which seemed pretty straight forward and direct.”

It claimed that her client's ax had the victim’s blood on it, but:

Orr: “When I actually had the weapons re-tested, there wasn't victim blood on the weapons. There wasn’t even human blood. It was animal blood.”

Fallon: “We're not some rogue laboratory making things up as we go along.”

He's Tim Fallon, the new director of the now-reformed Bexar County lab.

Fallon: “That was the worst case, as far as I'm concerned, and I don't know what happened.”

He says, since then. they've fired personnel, changed their practices and that anybody can check their work anytime.

Fallon: “We have nothing to hide, why not give it to them?”

And he says:

Fallon: “When we examine evidence we never consume all of it. The defense should be able to test these things if they need to.”

Anna: “Do you see a problem with a lab that routinely consumes evidence?”

Fallon: “Yes I would question their procedures.”

Thompson: “I don't know why they used up all the samples in this case.”

But using up evidence is something our experts noticed in case after case with the HPD lab, including the Palacios case.

Thompson: “The routine practice in most labs is to split the samples.”

Because Thompson says to do otherwise:

Thompson: ”It’s a recipe for miscarriages of justice.”

Krueger: “The lab does a good job, but again I can only refer you to our public information office.”

Which brings us back to HPD lab head Krueger:

Anna: “Are you going to undertake an examination of that work?”

Krueger: “I'm not going to get into any specifics. I'm again going to refer you to our media relations.”

But regarding our experts, he did say:

Anna: “Do you feel like they're right?”

Krueger: “I can't say that on air, but of course not.”

An HPD official spokesman told us that, as of Wednesday afternoon, the department is not investigating allegations about the lab.

But the Harris County District Attorney told the Defenders he is obligated to take a look.

The Defenders have asked for at least a year’s worth of reports and files from the HPD lab— files they plan to review and let you know what we find out.

If you've got a tip, call the Defenders hotline at 1-877-367-5468 or send an e-mail to: awerner@khou.dot.com