Quest For Truth - Inside Crime Lab
By Kyle Meenan
First Coast News
September 27, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- They are dedicated scientists working to find the truth.
In the Chemistry Lab of the Florida Department Law Enforcement's Jacksonville facility, they use state-of-the-art technology and years of training and experience to identify substances that could be introduced as evidence in criminal trials.
On this afternoon, a sealed clear plastic evidence bag is logged in, with a technician carefully comparing and matching numbers and bar codes with those recorded by previous workers.
In a notebook he catalogues the bag's size, its contents, its weight and other details that will eventually become part of his final report.
Then the exam begins.
The bag is carefully opened and the contents --believed to be marijuana, are laid out on an examination table.
A small fragment of plant material about the size of a match head is removed with forceps and dropped into a test tube. A reagent is added, and the material is swirled around and tapped to mix the liquid with the plant matter.
"Separating the cannabinoids from the plant material," explains the technician.
Cannabinoids are any of the organic substances found in marijuana, including the active ingredient, THC, which stands for tetrahydrocannabinol.
Next, a few drops of hydrochloric acid are added.
"You'll see a purplish color."
Then, chloroform is added, resulting in a dark purple band at the top of the liquid in the tube, with a rich lavender liquid at the bottom.
It is a positive result for marijuana.
"That's the chemical test for cannabis," we're told.
The sample is then weighed, more notes are made, and then the evidence is carefully re-sealed.
In another section of the lab, are sophisticated machines with circular rows of tiny vials, methodically being loaded into the machine.
It is a Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer, where compounds are broken down to microscopic levels, then analyzed and identified.
"We're required (to do) two instrumental tests on everything we're going to name. No one instrument test can stand by itself," said Chemistry Lab Supervisor Marion Estes.
Unlike forensics shows on TV with instant results, these machines can take up to 90-minutes to complete a run. A process repeated over and over and over in the name of accuracy --and justice.
"There's somebody that's been accused of a crime," said Estes.
"And if you're going to bear evidence against them --or in their favor, --it makes no difference... it has to be completely accurate."
In most cases, the equipment can positively identify any one of hundreds of pharmacological substances that are regulated by law, as well as many that are illegal.
On rare occasions, the sample result is unknown.
The evidence is inconclusive.
But Estes and his team are motivated not by who is guilty or innocent, but in the quest for truth --of what materials they are charged with identifying, regardless of whether it will help the prosecution in a case or the accused.
And budgetary constraints take their toll. Because of a demanding workload, processing at the FDLE labs is backlogged by many weeks --even months.
Some estimate a 1000-case backlog that will not be solved overnight. The agency is hoping the legislature will come to understand the importance of additional funding for personnel and equipment.
Funding to insure the wheels of justice turn smoothly, without getting bogged down in the quagmire of too many cases and not enough men, women and machines to keep up.