Mecklenburg DA notifying impacted parties after ‘incredibly troubling’ DNA lab errors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office has started the process of notifying attorneys whose clients may have been impacted by irregularities in DNA testing caused by a crime lab analyst.
DNA is critical in many high-profile cases like murders and rapes, and now the integrity of the evidence is in question, after the actions of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department employee.
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“Every job is subject to human error,” Missy Owen, partner at the Tin, Fulton, Walker and Owen law firm, said. “This just happens to be one that is of critical linchpin in someone’s freedom.”
Owen says her colleagues have received an email from the DA’s office about potential flaws in DNA results because of a mistake discovered in March. The email reads, in part:
A nonconformity with laboratory standards was identified and reported by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Crime Lab. On March 5, 2024, a senior DNA Analyst reviewing the work of another analyst discovered possible inconsistencies with the amplification positive control data generated during the DNA testing process. Further investigation revealed that during a retesting of DNA, the initial failed positive control was substituted with another positive control that was known to give the expected positive result. The casework analyst’s action was reported by the reviewing DNA Analyst and an investigation began to determine the full scope of the issue. …
The CMPD lab is working to determine which cases there were substitutions of a positive control in the work of the above-mentioned lab analyst.
Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office
“These are very serious cases,” Owen said. “While integrity at every level in our criminal justice system is essential, having questions about the integrity of DNA and forensic results at this high of level is incredibly troubling.”
The State Bureau of investigation is taking the lead on this case while the District Attorney’s office is identifying potential impacted cases. Owen would like to see outside experts involved in the process.
“I would hope that they view this process to include individuals from across the spectrum in the criminal justice system to ensure integrity is going to give confidence to all of the participants in the system that we are getting to the root of the problem and eradicating it,” Owen said.
Owen pointed out that there are some equity concerns about DNA testing flaws based on financial resources.
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“If somebody has unlimited resources, and they say, I don’t care what the DNA test says, I know. I wasn’t there. It wasn’t me. We need to have this tested. That takes money,” Owen said. “It takes significant money. So, individuals without access to those types of resources are most likely to fall victim to a flaw like this.”
A spokesman for the district attorney says they will not be giving additional details about this testing flaw or their process for evaluating potentially impacted cases until CMPD and SBI finish the investigation. CMPD and SBI both declined to provide any updates in the case.
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