The New York City medical examiner is reviewing hundreds of rape cases for possible DNA evidence errors.
The New York Times reports that a lab technician may have mishandled critical DNA evidence in over 800 rape cases.
In one case, the new profile matched a convicted offender's sample, leading to an indictment a decade after the evidence was collected.
In two other cases, the new DNA evidence was linked to people already convicted or under suspicion.
The cases span from 2001 to 2011.
The technician wasn't identified. She resigned in 2011.
Defense lawyers are already planning on taking advantage of a sloppy technician’s mistakes in handling evidence at the city medical examiner’s officer.
The office acknowledged Friday it’s reviewing more than 800 cases handled by the now-former tech.
The office is only halfway done with the review, which has already found that the tech missed crucial DNA evidence in more than two dozen cases.
One of the overlooked samples has since been used to secure an indictment against a Brooklyn man for a 2001 rape.
A law enforcement source said prosecutors weren’t able to proceed with the victim’s case at the time because there was no DNA evidence.
But in 2011, while reviewing the tech’s cases, investigators found the sexual assault kit the unnamed technician checked did indeed have DNA evidence.
The ME’s office said the probe also discovered the tech left some evidence out of some sex-assault kits, and put the wrong evidence in others.
The tech resigned in 2011, after the ME’s office first started probing her 10 years there, according to letters obtained by the Daily News.
Lawyer Alan Abramson said he planned on using the tech’s involvement in one of his client’s cases to get his DNA-based murder conviction thrown out.
“Anytime there’s a problem in the DNA lab where there are violations of protocols and procedures, it can taint the results of the cases,” Abramson said.
Defense lawyers are already planning on taking advantage of a sloppy technician’s mistakes in handling evidence at the city medical examiner’s officer.
The office acknowledged Friday it’s reviewing more than 800 cases handled by the now-former tech.
The office is only halfway done with the review, which has already found that the tech missed crucial DNA evidence in more than two dozen cases.
One of the overlooked samples has since been used to secure an indictment against a Brooklyn man for a 2001 rape.
A law enforcement source said prosecutors weren’t able to proceed with the victim’s case at the time because there was no DNA evidence.
But in 2011, while reviewing the tech’s cases, investigators found the sexual assault kit the unnamed technician checked did indeed have DNA evidence.
The ME’s office said the probe also discovered the tech left some evidence out of some sex-assault kits, and put the wrong evidence in others.
The tech resigned in 2011, after the ME’s office first started probing her 10 years there, according to letters obtained by the Daily News.
Lawyer Alan Abramson said he planned on using the tech’s involvement in one of his client’s cases to get his DNA-based murder conviction thrown out.
“Anytime there’s a problem in the DNA lab where there are violations of protocols and procedures, it can taint the results of the cases,” Abramson said.
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