Florida lab employee accused of compromising thousands of criminal cases

                                  Forensic science lab[/caption



Carol Forsloff---Forensic specialists are often key to the solving of a crime, and that includes those people who collect drug samples and assess these in laboratories to determine whether the materials are actually criminal in nature. A lab employee in Florida stands accused of criminal wrongdoing after drug evidence turned up missing, with officials concerned that thousands of criminal cases may have been compromised.

The employee is said to have swapped nonprescription drugs with prescription pain medications. This misconduct is said to have created such serious problems that the Florida Law Enforcement Department may now have to review about 2,600 criminal cases that had been handled by the employee.

The mishandling of evidence is of particular consequence since those found guilty of a drug crime in Florida can face serious penalties that include everything from fines and probation to deportation proceedings or loss of child custody.

Last year the New York City police department found that a lab technician had missed detecting DNA evidence in at least 26 rape cases. This type of error can mean insufficient evidence to properly identify and convict perpetrators.

Laboratory errors have also led to wrongful convictions, as experts at the Innocence Project reported. Jurors often make decisions based upon tangible evidence, so it is particularly important that the data be accurate. There are a number of people who often have to handle, collect, report, identify and test evidence, and if that evidence is deliberately mishandled, someone can be wrongfully convicted and receive a lengthy prison sentence or even a death sentence.