FBI Called in to Investigate North Carolina Crime Lab

Testing cases going back 20 years is going to be expen­sive and time con­sum­ing. These errors could have been caught if the lab had a pol­icy in place for bet­ter dis­cov­ery. The United States has an adver­sar­ial legal sys­tem, a series of checks and bal­ances. As long as crime labs are con­trolled by pros­e­cu­to­r­ial or police agen­cies, their work will always need to be checked by other experts on behalf of the defense.

Two for­mer assis­tant direc­tors of the FBI are begin­ning a review of North Carolina’s crime lab fol­low­ing rev­e­la­tions that led to a ground­break­ing exon­er­a­tion of a man wrongly accused in a 1991 murder.

A spokes­woman for Attorney General Roy Cooper says the inde­pen­dent assess­ment will begin with meet­ings Thursday. Cooper ordered a review of cases dat­ing to the 1990s.

Past prac­tices at the state crime lab Cooper now over­seas came into focus after judges exon­er­ated Greg Taylor after a lengthy inquiry into his claim of inno­cence. State Bureau of Investigation Director Robin Pendergraft has said the lab had a now-defunct pol­icy of not auto­mat­i­cally pro­vid­ing com­plete notes on blood test results for trials.

Cooper has also ordered an inter­nal review of the matter.

Originally an AP News Story.