Texas Rangers Investigating Austin Crime Lab

The lab says it’s just pro­ce­dure and has noth­ing to do with the alle­ga­tions filed by DNA Scientist Cecily Hamilton.

The Texas Rangers are now look­ing into any prob­lems that could exist at the East Austin crime lab. Friday, Chief Acevedo said the élite DPS unit will help clear the air.

Texas Ranger Captain Freeman Martin is head­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion, and in a sep­a­rate audit, the United States Department of Justice is also expected to review the lab.

Acevedo said it is a rou­tine audit that has noth­ing to do with the cur­rent tur­moil sur­round­ing the lab.

“We look for­ward to that audit. They will have full access to our lab­o­ra­tory, just like every­body else will,” Acevedo said. “We look for­ward to get­ting back that audit report.”

Texas Rangers now involved in Austin crime lab inves­ti­ga­tion
All this started when for­mer APD DNA Scientist Cecily Hamilton wrote a lengthy mem­o­ran­dum to APD super­vi­sors, as well as a city APD Human Resources man­ager, cit­ing 40 issues she believed needed to be addressed.

In her mem­o­ran­dum, Hamilton described a hos­tile work envi­ron­ment, nepo­tism between a super­vi­sor and a co-worker, poten­tial lab work con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, pos­si­ble cheat­ing on DNA tests and employ­ees she believed were unqual­i­fied to per­form cer­tain foren­sic testing.

Hamilton pointed out that three of the top man­agers at the embat­tled foren­sic lab do not sci­ence background.

One of them is Forensic Science Chief Ed Harris. Harris heads the APD lab.

The audits per­formed by the Justice Department and the Texas Rangers are expected to take sev­eral weeks to complete.

Officials say defense attor­ney audits will also begin in the near future.

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