Outside consultant to review crime lab
Goal is to restore public confidence
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
January 27, 2007
Seeking to restore public confidence in the beleaguered State Police crime lab, the Patrick administration said yesterday it will hire an outside consultant to conduct a review of all operations at the state's premier criminal forensic laboratory.
The lab has come under fire since Jan. 12, when State Police acknowledged that a key member of the forensic sciences team, Robert E. Pino , mishandled DNA test results. The agency later said he had failed to forward DNA matches in 11 sexual assault cases, making it impossible for prosecutors to bring charges in unsolved rape cases dating to the 1980s. In addition, Pino prepared reports saying DNA results in four cases matched the genetic material from old rape kits when they had not.
Pino, who has been suspended, has denied wrongdoing.
Yesterday, Public Safety Secretary Kevin M. Burke asked for proposals for an independent management consultant who would go beyond an audit already being conducted by the FBI. The FBI downloaded 21,000 DNA profiles last week and is focusing on more than 600 matches since 2001.
The contract, for up to $250,000, calls for examining every forensic unit in the lab, which is headquartered in Maynard with satellite operations in Danvers, Sudbury, and Springfield, Burke said in a statement.
Burke said that State Police Colonel Mark Delaney , who now leads the State Police and was the lab's top manager while the DNA test results were mishandled, asked for the review.
State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios , who expects to retain his co chairmanship of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, said yesterday that the broad inquiry is needed to restore public confidence.
"This is a very positive step," said the Cambridge Democrat, who has pushed for more spending on forensic science in the past several years. "This is going to be to the benefit of the crime lab and the district attorneys and others who rely on the crime lab to do their job for public safety."
Since Pino's suspension, law enforcement officials have repeatedly said the accuracy of the DNA tests themselves was not compromised by what they have called administrative failures.
Defense lawyer Robert A. George said the inquiry should be broadened to include scrutiny of the accuracy of DNA testing in cases in which defendants have already been convicted. He again cited two clients: Edward S. O'Brien , convicted in 1997 for murdering his best friend's mother, and Christopher M. McCowen , convicted last year for murdering Truro fashion writer Christa Worthington.
"There are people in prison who need to know whether the results in their cases have been compromised by the problems that have plagued the crime lab," George said.
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com