Curiouser and curiouser! Now not only do we have a state crime lab tech fired over errors that could affect L&L's case, the lead special agent in L&L's case being suspended...
"State investigators are still trying to determine just how many errors a fired lab technician made and how many criminal cases were affected.
A spokeswoman with the Division of Criminal Investigation said agents have already uncovered nine errors out of the last 60 cases the tech handled. All of the errors involved usable fingerprint evidence that was labeled as unsuitable for identification.
Jessica Lown said an internal quality control check caught the errors, and now investigators will go back as far as they have to into the fired employees 16 year career to see if there are more mistakes.
Defense attorney and Drake University professor Bob Rigg said crimes could have gone unsolved, or the wrong person could have been convicted because of the passed-over prints.
"For investigators, prosecutors and defense attorneys, they're going to go back and they're going to want to know who this individual was and what cases they worked on and whether or not that work could have affected the outcome of the case," Rigg said.
None of the affected cases so far are Polk County cases. But Sheriff's department spokeswoman Sgt. Jana Rooker said even if they were, fingerprints are probably not the only evidence investigators have against a suspect.
"Doesn't seem like it would make or break a case," Rooker said. "It could be just one piece of many pieces of evidence against a suspect. I believe that all it would really do is eliminate someone or positively identify them." http://www.kcci.com/news/central-io...18107780/-/vklortz/-/index.html#ixzz2Lsen3asD
Just my opinion, but I think a fingerprint would be very important in eliminating someone or positively identifying them in L&L's case. Guess my priorities must be out of whack (sarcasm intended). :stormingmad:
