>Bottom line is this - - the DNA is good - - it can be very
>important in this case. And now it will be entered into the
>data banks - - the new investigative team could be very busy very soon.

The Houston Police Department's Crime Lab has been subjected to an internal investigation and to an investigation by a national forensics society. There are calls for a federal investigation and calls for a grand jury investigation into the nature of the testimony given in several cases.

All 313 dna samples that the HPD contributed to the Texas Dept of Public Safety database have been withdrawn from the database.

The probe has expanded well beyond the original dna testing deficiencies and now includes all areas of the laboratory including the serology department's basic testing of blood types and the ballistic's department's test-firing procedures.

In Houston, there clearly have been problems for a long time and those problems were not solely of a technical nature or a training nature; there had to be people who knew that the crime lab gave "testimony that was good for the prosecution" rather than "testimony that reflected good science".

In Boulder, the police personnel do not seem particularly familiar with proper procedures for taking and handling dna samples, but they don't seem to be totally corrupt and inept. In Boulder it seems to be a worse problem: if they just don't like the implications of the evidence, they ignore it and don't submit it to regional or national databases at all!