Prosecutor’s Error Gets Man off of Manslaughter?

Poor com­mu­ni­ca­tion to the crime lab is VERY com­mon in my expe­ri­ence. In one of the labs that I used to work, it was not uncom­mon for lab staff to toil away on cases that had already pled out, or even been adju­di­cated, but the lab was never told by pros­e­cu­tors or inves­ti­ga­tors not to bother work­ing on old requests for analysis.

Better com­mu­ni­ca­tion would be one way to instantly reduce crime lab back­log, and pre­vent still needed evi­dence from being dis­posed of.

A Huntsville man charged with manslaugh­ter in a deadly 2005 wreck wants the crime lab results of his blood alco­hol test thrown out because the sam­ple was destroyed before the defense could do its own tests.

A court order ask­ing that the sam­ple be pre­served was never deliv­ered to the state crime lab.

To read the whole story in The Huntsville Times, click here.