Florida reviews thousands of drug cases for possible evidence tampering
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Florida's state police agency on Saturday announced a massive evidence review in thousands of drug cases handled by one crime-laboratory chemist, saying its findings could lead to some criminal cases being quashed and drug dealers set free.
The chemist is suspected of taking illegal drugs out of evidence storage and replacing them with over-the-counter medication, the agency said.
"It could be for personal use. It could be for trafficking. We don't know," Gerald Bailey, head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), said at a news conference.
Bailey declined to identify the FDLE chemist, who was ordered to take vacation and accrued compensatory leave time pending disposition of the case.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/01/us-usa-crime-florida-idUSBREA100IC20140201
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)1monster
(11,012 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)and a lot of cases had to be thrown out.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)It is one reason I have great skepticism about the use of lab results in trials.
The other is that the tests, when you look at them, any of them, do not rise to the level of "beyond a reasonable doubt", they all have significant error rates, both false positives and false negatives.
You take that and add sloppy or corrupt evidence handling, and you have nothing as evidence of anything.
ck4829
(35,096 posts)Florida.
1monster
(11,012 posts)hand, if the investigation finds merit in the accusation, the possible drug dealer may be getting housed, clothed, and fed by courtesy of the government for a considerably long time...
therehegoes
(37 posts)To investigate the tampering, we've had to have experts checking experts. So far we've found the tampering is a very consistent theme among the 6 or so experts we've used. In order for the police to alter the tapes, they knew they had serious liability issues.
I had NO WAY of knowing a bogus 911 call had cops coming to my door. I also was not responsible for police NOT FOLLOWING POLICE PROTOCOLS. Those protocols are to protect everyone, the police themselves and even innocent old guys watching TV and drinking a beer!
In my case, no one was injured. And yes, I know a self-defense argument isn't popular here, but it is valid considering the threats I'd been receiving.
Believe me when I say, it could happen to anyone. If the police in Frisco, TX are not held responsible along with the District Attorney Greg Willis and his Assistant DA Lindsey Byers for their part in the malicious prosecution, then you can bet this type of thing will happen to a lot more people.