THOUSANDS OF TEXAS CONVICTS TOLD THAT AUSTIN COPS MISHANDLED DNA EVIDENCE

By Joshua Rhett Miller

New York Post
February 10, 2017

More than 2,000 people convicted of crimes, including those imprisoned for murder and rape, will be notified by Texas prosecutors about the possibility of defective forensic evidence in their cases because of faulty DNA testing by Austin cops.

Letters from Travis County prosecutors will be sent to 642 people with recently verified addresses, while another 1,559 defendants will be notified as soon as they are located – and the letters will notify them that they may be entitled to an appeal, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

“This process is specifically intended to identify a situation where an innocent person was wrongly convicted because of DNA evidence,” Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore said Thursday. “We are looking at a very small population, if any, but that is the point of this process.”

The 2,201 cases – which date back to 2004 and include convictions as recent as last year – are significantly fewer than the initial estimate of about 3,600 cases that may have required an additional review of DNA evidence. The Austin Police Department’s DNA lab was closed in June after a state audit found staffers there were using outdated and incorrect procedures while processing DNA evidence.

“If we have someone who is convicted on DNA evidence that isn’t reliable, and it played a material role in their conviction, our duty is to see that justice is done to correct that,” said Assistant District Attorney Dexter Gilford, who supervises the agency’s conviction integrity unit.

The Travis County District Attorney’s Office announced in late 2015 that it found “concerns involving the historical interpretation” of DNA results. Then-District Attorney Rosemary Lehberg said in a statement at the time that the potential impact of the issues was still unknown, but acknowledged it could have a “material impact” on some criminal cases.

The step of notifying defendants in writing marks the biggest development in the larger effort to locate and identify anyone wrongfully convicted as a result of faulty work at the DNA lab, which remains closed and could ultimately become privatized, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

Using information from Austin police, prosecutors had been working for weeks to identify defendants whose cases included DNA evidence.

“We are trying to identify anyone who suffered an adverse consequence, and DNA was material to that consequence,” Gilford said.

The letters will include information for defendants on what they can do if they want their cases reviewing, including the hiring of private defense attorneys or lawyers from the Capital Area Private Defender Service.

“The notices are just the first step,” Gilford said.

Meanwhile, a police officer in Temple — about 70 miles north of Austin — was fired earlier this week after investigators determined he improperly stored some DNA samples and other evidence for years, the Associated Press reported.

Officer Jayson Jordan was indefinitely suspended from the Temple Police Department for violating procedures from 2012 through last year, including failure to properly recover, document and store items like DNA evidence, drugs and a gun. Prosecutors are now working with the department to determine how the issues could affect cases.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Houston recently hired Art Acevedo as its new police chief, the man under whose watch this debacle occurred. Way to go Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.