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Subscribe to RSSNEW YORK - More than 800 New York City rape cases that occurred between 2001 and 2011 are under special review after the city's office of medical examiner discovered that a technician made repeated errors while handling DNA evidence, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
The re-examination has found 26 sexual assault cases in which the technician, who has not been identified publicly, incorrectly determined there were no traces of biological material on evidence, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the chief medical examiner's office.
Retesting the evidence the technician mishandled has so far resulted in seven new full DNA profiles of suspects and one new criminal indictment in Brooklyn.
None of the 843 cases on which the technician worked in that time resulted in a wrongful conviction, and there has been no indication that her errors were deliberate, Borakove said.
Officials first became aware of the technician's oversights and launched the review in July 2011. The technician had been taken off of case work in 2009 due to other deficiencies and ultimately resigned from the medical examiner's office in November 2011. The office's review should conclude in the next few months, Borakove said.
News of the medical examiner's review errors comes a month after a former chemist at Massachusetts' state crime lab was indicted on charges of tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors said she falsified evidence while handling drug samples tied to more than 34,000 cases, and state officials released 236 people from prison pending new trials as a result of their investigation into the matter.
The office of New York City's chief medical examiner employs 48 technicians to handle the preliminary evidence on the 1,500 sexual assault cases in which it is involved each year. As a result of the review's findings, the office has changed and updated its supervision and training procedures to ensure similar incidents do not occur in the future, Borakove said.
The New York Times first reported news of the medical examiner's investigation.
Additional reporting by Daniel Lovering for Reuters.
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A typical over paid ploitician relative who is definetely unqualified. Quite often in these plush jobs there is someone over paid and unqualified but they get the job because of who they know or who they're related to. Nothing new other than a lot of innocent people probably in jail because of her unqualification.
Just curious, wonder what race and political party she is.
That will really get this blog worked up.
Who cares besides you? The most important implication here is that rape suspects may have gone free due to lack of DNA evidence. Here's hoping the Persecutor's do their jobs, and make sure that those sho should be charged are.
Hollywood & Politics.
It's a Family & Friends Affair. Qualifications not required.
In Hollywood where Stars date Stars they have to do a family tree search 1st.
Search Politicians Family connections. Sometimes it Skips a Generation, but Most readers would be surprised at what they'll Find.
Countries with Kings & Queens have nothing over the U.S. We have our own Royal Families & Dynasties.
I Believe there are crimes that warrant the death penalty. However I can't condone it because of the stupidity of the System
You can wrestle a murderer to the ground & they Don't qualify. Yet Circumstantial Evidence may allow death penalties.
In fact, according to the story, there have been no wrongful convictions, but people who were not convicted because the lab findings did not establish the connections that existed, but were not cited.
Of course, it's according to the prosecutor's office that there are no wrongful convictions. (Strictly speaking, they said chief medical examiner. But it's still someone who will not defy the prosecutor and make the office lose any W's.)
Any lawyer with half a brain is going to find out if that technician was involved in a conviction and appeal it. No one will just accept that statement on it face.
So this important task to determine the lives of individuals is handled by some lowly technician?
Hey, this our local government at work. Half-assing and allowing rapists & murderers loose on the streets to attack citizens again and again. Why is only the technician out of a job?
You can't trust the federal or local governments.
How would you like to be on the end of that call?
"Hi, uh John, uh remember that guy that was accused of raping your daughter and we cleared him through DNA evidence? Well, uh, yeah, he was actually guilty...and um due to double jeopardy, we can't retry him. You & your daughter are just sheet (sp on purpose) out of luck. Yeah, he was smoking pot. We didn't think it was important, but don't worry, we're training them better now."
I hate when people spout off without knowing what they are talking about. These lab technicians go through certification processes and exams, they are not political patronage jobs and you can not hire just anyone for them. The fact that one technician was apparently sloppy should not be used to indict an entire group or profession. These are not "lowly technicians," but as a rule rather highly skilled people. Also, the article says that no one was wrongly convicted because of the errors. It sounds more like the technician missed evidence, possibly allowing someone to go free who should not have, rather than making mistakes that produced false evidence of guilt. Granted, I am sure that lawyers will be looking at every case she was involved in and try to get new trials on every one. They will not doubt try and argue that if these mistakes were made where evidence was missed there could have been others that lead to wrongful convictions. This could turn into a nightmare for the prosecutors office as well as a lot of victims who may have to go through new trials. That said, it does not sound like this technician was manufacturing evidence to help get convictions as occurred in the case in MA. Obviously any problem with a police lab is a major issue, and this kind of sloppy work should not be tolerated. However, it does not appear that any of the errors were deliberate attempts to manipulate a case. Hopefully these errors did not result in any not guilty verdicts for suspects who it turns out were guilty, since re-trying them would not be possible. It sounds more likely that since the DNA evidence was missed, a guilty person may have escaped prosecution entirely. In these cases the person could now be tried, assuming the statute of limitations has not run out.
"I hate when people spout off without knowing what they are talking about. These lab technicians go through certification processes and exams, they are not political patronage jobs and you can not hire just anyone for them. The fact that one technician was apparently sloppy should not be used to indict an entire group or profession. These are not "lowly technicians," but as a rule rather highly skilled people."
I'd like to believe that, JS, but this happened between 2001-2011....TEN YEARS!!! And in ten years, NOBODY noticed that this woman was doing something WRONG? It doesn't sound like these technicians are going through any worthwhile certification processes or exams, nor work under sufficient oversight. My wife works in a hospital as an MRI Technician, she just performs the scans and the Radiologist reads them. But she has to do endless continuing education, testing and certification each and every year. If she wasn't doing her job correctly, SOMEONE would learn about it even if she herself did not. She certainly wouldn't last ten years making mistakes.
With all the 'errors' and false convictions (lies from witnesses, police officers and prosecutors) we've heard about in the last several years, one has to wonder how many innocent people are behind bars or have been wrongfully executed. So sad.
Reading it sounds like this time he errored on the side of the criminal but not finding anything. Wonder how the victims feel
Right @ slufoot, this time...
There have been executions of innocent people. Texas is a prime example of this. Sadly, until DNA has been used to refute "eyewitness" testimony for those already incarcerated, they remained in prison for years and years. The Innocence Project is working to resolve convictions made without proper DNA handling and testing - especially these old cases where a non-white person was convicted in a southern state. It is not only sad, it's pathetic injustice.
Margo, that is very true. It's sad, but true. Thankfully with the forensic and DNA technology available that will hopefully be in the past. No one wants to see an innocent person executed.
This is probably the strongest argument against the death penalty. There's just no such thing as being 100% certain that you've got the right criminal. The prosecutors are always absolutely sure they've got the right guy, and the juries are always absolutely sure they're convicting the right guy. But sometimes, they're all wrong.
Lab tests are not foolproof. It turns out that fingerprint identification is more of an art than a science, and is not ironclad. Eyewitness testimony is so notoriously inaccurate, it should probably be barred from the trial (I'm not kidding - it's almost useless). Polygraphs are just about as accurate as a coin flip.
If you execute the wrong person, there's no way to correct the mistake, or at least to try to compensate the person wrongfully convicted.
More likely the best candidates got jobs in the private sector and this person was the best they could get. Same with prosecutors. You would be nuts to take a job as a prosecuter when you can make twice as much in private practice. You get what you pay for.
Fed up
A good friend of mine who became a dentist once made this statement to me. He finished in the top 5% of his class.
Remember there are 50% that graduate in the top of the class then there is the other 50%
Exactly Slu. I say that about doctors all the time. Our parents and grandparents revered doctors and never questioned their diagnosis.
But what we need to remember is that 1/2 the doctors practicing today graduated on the bottom half of their class.
That is true for every profession.
Q: What do you call the person who graduates last in their class in medical school?
A: Doctor
I think that we should insist that all doctors be above average.
What?
This story is more frightening then is portrayed. All of this 'stuff' is used as evidence in courts of law.., and there hasn't be some sort of review in 10 years!!?
But, what do you expect from the most crooked business in America.., law enforcement and the courts.
At least in this case, no one was wrongfully convicted, instead, it is the case of victims not getting justice. How truly sad, that because of lack of doing ones job properly, others who should have been punished for their crimes, have not been, while victims have lived in fear, no doubt, Possibly even raped others.
It is hard enough in life, to have to suffer from others poor choices. When they commit evil acts and one ends up living with their evil consequences for the rest of your life. But to compound greater grief upon that, from others, whether through incompetence, or deliberate lack of principals, is another burden altogether.
The most important reason for people to learn early, to accept responsibility for their actions, mistakes, faults, weaknesses and learn integrity.For we all will make mistakes in life, we must own up to, and harm others, no matter how hard we try not to. That we must make amends for.Whether deliberate or not. Just like this technician has made mistakes she didn't intend to, which this article mentions.
Despite measures in place for justice, abuses are still widely happening.Greater diligence must occur to prevent cases like the woman who deliberately misused her position handling drug evidence. Unfortunately, we just can't change human nature
They did say it was a "her". Dumb broad about sums this one up.
And then "they" told us "all criminals say they are innocent". This has always been their cover for incarcerating innocent people.
This is why we MUST abolish the death penalty.
I wonder how much longer it's gonna be before women start raping men instead of just men raping women.
Women rape men and women - with tools. Men are raped by men and also by tools (or their body). Rape is an act of violence committed by a violent person. Don't wonder about this, it's been happening for years. It's just under reported.
I've never in all my life heard of an instance about any other type of rape except male on female. If it in fact does happen any other way, why do we never hear about it?
68...you are terribly uninformed. First, I want you to put on your thinking cap and think "prison". Next, think about there being a lot of men without access to women. Bingo. Male on male rape. It is estimated that the vast majority of rapes occur in prison. One of the reasons it goes unreported is due to the male ego. Many of these men go through the same trauma as women, yet , they often have had no access to victim counseling. That trauma can result in violent against others at a later date, if left unresolved. Finally, in other parts of the world, male on male rape is a means of humiliating and subjugating other males. Wake up and smell the coffee.
So they reassigned the technician that screwed up the rape tests.
That's real smart civil service thinking, now she can screw up at whatever job they demoted her to.
They should just fire her and quit wasting the taxpayers money.
If she's related to someone in authority, or a friend, they won't fire her.
My company does business with a local municipality. One of the Mayors nephews is mentally challenged and he works at the receiving area of the DPW. More than once we have delivered items made of glass that are marked on each box FRAGILE, Handle with care, and this guy will take the boxes off the truck or pallet and toss them. But he's the Mayors nephew, so nothing is ever done.
Good, thank you for keeping this on task. It is irrelevant that either technician or chemist were female. It is equally irrelevant their political parties. During these 10 years, the problem and what is relevant is how many potential rapists were able to continue raping others because of error due to the technician. Considering there is a five year statute of limitations on rape, victims could have their cases dropped due to improper evidence handling and testing. THAT is the problem that needs to be addressed, not political party or gender.
Margo- yes there are some women that rape, however the percentage of women compared to men who rape is so LOW....Men who rape women are at epidemic porportions. EVERY day, every hour, every minute a man is raping....I have worked in social services for YEARS and rape by men is the majority. We need to EMPOWER young girls and women...there is a war against women....some want women disenfranchised- we must stand proud and strong.
On the brighter side, the rate of forcible rape is down 36% in the last 20 years. Still too high, but it has been declining.
H - you must live a sorry existence if you believe that half of the population is "at war" against you. I am a man who proudly stands firmly for the death penalty in cases of murder and rape (albeit, forensics via DNA need proper 'validation'), but I can assure you; that I, my son, my 5 brothers, ALL of MY male friends.... are not at war against you - and we are in THAT half.
Ban Men
Rape is a crime of violence and subjugation, regardless of gender. Male on male, male on female , it is a horrible assault against an individuals integrity.
How is it that the supervisor isn't held accountable for dereliction of their duties...the supervisor obviously failed to supervise...the solution is always some new procedure that will ensure it never happens again...if everyone did their job correctly, America would become a very different society...
But, people, always - and I mean ALWAYS - trust your government!
Typical union government employee.
My guess is, the technician was a union member. Unions, and the I-don't-care attitude they foster, are destroying this country. ... As I think about it, I don't know which is worse, rape victims not getting justice (or even being accused of lying), or innocent people going to prison. Both are unthinkable injustices. And yes, this is yet another reason the death penalty should be permanently abolished.
Put your thinking caps on....her bosses should be demoted or fired as well....after 10 years I'm sure her screw ups were known by many. Let the ax fall on them all.
You know you can trust your government... just ask an Indian.
Does anyone really believe that no rapists walked free or that any innocent men were incarcerated because of her mistakes? Does anyone really believe that the city would admit it?
Does anyone believe that the mayor should have been attending to business like this instead of sticking his nose into what the people living and working there eat and drink?
How about each and every state check DUI breathalyzers for accuracy in all cases... many cities have found them to be inaccurate and not calibrated correctly... Even the companies that sell these equipments to police precincts do not warranty their reporting nor back any amount of accuracy. Most if not all have extremely outdated operating systems. I am totally against drunks on the road, this is a big issue but also a huge moneymaker for counties across the country. Errors and incorrect procedures have convicted innocent or drivers that had breathalyzer levels elevated to convict unjustly. Besides the police will cite written 'how-to' instructions as to what not step by step of what they 'observed' from their past mistakes to further convict, whether true or not. And the courts believe that the police are more credible than the suspect in court - guess they don't read the newspapers or choose not to or ignore them. A DUI suspect is always guilty and never presumed innocent due to any circumstance(s) or test procedure.