10:51 PM CDT on Monday, June 12, 2006

By Matt Stiles / The Houston Chronicle

The independent investigator examining past problems at the Houston police crime lab said Monday that he needs $1.5 million to finish his work - a price Mayor Bill White isn’t sure the city will pay.

The investigator, Michael Bromwich, told a City Council committee that he needs the extra money to study recommendations for improving the lab’s operations.

He said the money also would pay for an expansion of an investigation that has identified 93 cases involving DNA or serology analysis with “major issues” that raise doubts about the reliability of work and the accuracy of analysts’ conclusions.

Bromwich, former U.S. Justice Department inspector general, said his team has spent most of its $3.8 million budget. But he said the team expanded its review of serology analyses by hundreds of cases because of the number of problems experts found in the an early sample of analysts’ work.

“We’ve been, I would say, extremely cost conscious,” he told the council’s public safety committee. “We have managed this investigation very tightly, even in the face of some unexpected developments.”

The city hired Bromwich to investigate the crime lab in 2005. The lab’s DNA division was closed in December 2002 because of problems with practices and personnel. Since then, errors also have been exposed in the lab divisions that test firearms, body fluids and controlled substances. Two men have been released from prison because of faulty lab work.

Meanwhile, Bromwich said a plan to use legislative authority to subpoena three key former employees who’ve refused to cooperate had been put on hold temporarily.

Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, chairman of the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics, had planned to let Bromwich use the committee’s subpoena power. The plan was delayed because of a scheduling problem.

Bromwich considers the testimony of the ex-employees critical to his investigation, which stalled last year until the council agreed to provide more funding, and he said at least one had agreed to testify voluntarily.

“Now that the witnesses know we are going to obtain their testimony at some point in the near future, we are hopeful that they will prefer to get the testimony over sooner rather than later,” he told the committee.

White said he would have to study the details before deciding whether to recommend the additional funding. He said was concerned about the process costing more than originally estimated.

“We do need to make sure that we look at any case where the evidence behind a conviction may be in doubt,” he said. “I hate to spend any money on anything that we don’t need to.”

Council members were split on the idea Monday.

Councilman Adrian Garcia, a former police officer who chairs the committee, said he wants to see the work completed within the current budget. “I want to find out what needs to happen to resolve this,” he said.

Garcia said the probe should focus on examining cases in which people are still in jail, but that it might not be a wise use of resources to spend more to learn why some DNA and serology analysts may have tailored their findings to support predetermined crime theories. Serology is the science of analyzing bodily fluids.

He said that $1.5 million could be used to help fund an academy class of police cadets.

Councilwoman Carol Alvarado said she supports paying the extra money. She said the city should pay whatever is necessary to ferret out what she repeatedly called “intentional scientific fraud” by some lab employees.

“I would hope that what was in this last report is helpful in getting council members to support the money,” she said. “This has been very frustrating for me because a long time ago I said, ‘I’m not going to rest until somebody’s head is on a platter.’ And we still have not been able to pinpoint anyone and hold them accountable.”

Councilwoman Sue Lovell agreed.

“We have a moral obligation,” she said. “There needs to be an exhaustive investigation.”

Reporter Roma Khanna contributed to this report.

matt.stiles@chron.com