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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Ind. Courts - "Toxicology audit finds 10 percent error rate: Attorneys call for Supreme Court to intervene in cases involved in audit, which found 10 percent error rate"

Here is the long list of ILB entries on the state toxicology lab scandal. This new, lengthy story today from the Indianapolis Star's Mark Alesia and Tim Evans reports:

An audit of the State Department of Toxicology revealed 61 false positive marijuana test results from 2007-09 -- the strongest evidence yet that Hoosiers may have been wrongfully convicted because of problems at the lab.

The paper audit of blood and urine results found lab errors in 272 other samples, but auditors added that they "appear to be" positive.

In all, that's 333 lab errors among 3,200 results checked by the auditors -- or 10.4 percent.

The findings prompted two leading Indianapolis defense attorneys, J.J. Paul and John Tompkins, to call on the Indiana Supreme Court to intervene in every case covered by the audit -- and not just because of errors found in the audit.

They said perhaps more troubling was its limited scope. The auditor acknowledged that there was a long list of things that he didn't, or couldn't, check -- things that the attorneys said are required for results to be admissible in court.

"They're using this to legitimize individual tests that they can't legitimize," Paul said of Indiana University, which operates the lab. "This proves every single test in the audit is in question."

Tompkins said the audit reflects quality control failures that call into question the lab's competence in every other aspect of the tests that weren't audited.

"Passing this audit," Tompkins said, "doesn't mean the test was good, scientifically or legally." * * *

Kenneth J. Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, said any false results -- positive or negative -- are unacceptable and undermine the justice system.

"If we come to accept that tests can be, and often are, incorrect, then no result will ever be unquestioned," Falk said. "So this undercuts the validity of all tests."

IU spokesman [Larry] MacIntyre had a different concern -- the potential for a flood of what he would call frivolous lawsuits.

"The real problem here," he said, "is that the laboratory's past reputation for inaccuracy is harmful to the justice system because it casts a shadow of doubt on this evidence in every single case, and thus invites much litigation that should be unnecessary."

It does not appear that IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre is an attorney.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 16, 2011 11:59 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts