As Requests for DNA Tests Soar, So Do Lab Backlogs

Detectives identified Thomas A. Hall in June 2006 as a suspect in the Nov. 27, 1993, rape of a Silver Spring woman after investigators said a profile created from the rapist's DNA entered into a national database matched a sample taken from Hall in Virginia, where he had served time for distributing cocaine.

When Hall was arrested June 28, 2006, detectives took a mouth swab to confirm the DNA match. The case was supposed to be tried in the fall, but the prosecutor did not receive the lab report until November.

Hall's attorney, Robert Bonsib, asked for additional data about the analysis, which is standard in DNA cases. Assistant State's Attorney Maura Lynch, citing staffing problems at the lab, among other factors, said the report would not be available until the end of the year. Bonsib agreed to wait.

When Bonsib hadn't received the report by January, he filed a motion seeking to have the DNA evidence excluded. On Jan. 8, Montgomery County Circuit Administrative Judge Ann S. Harrington declined to give the state an extension and affirmed another judge's ruling that DNA could not be used at trial because the state hadn't made it available to the defense in time. Lynch dropped the charges.

"I'm not happy that he's not going to be punished," the victim said recently, adding that the failed effort had stirred painful memories. Bonsib said his client denies having committed the rape.

About 18 months ago, two of the Prince George's lab's forensic analysts left for higher-paying jobs. Their departure, combined with growing demand, has slowed DNA analysis significantly. There are 10 forensic analysts in the lab; three jobs in the DNA division are vacant, and two others were filled with people still being trained.

Delays there proved costly for one defendant. Andre C. King was held in jail without bond for about six months on charges of assaulting an 8-year-old girl in Upper Marlboro before prosecutors acknowledged that long-delayed DNA tests and witness alibis proved his innocence. The case against King was postponed at least once because of the slowdown. DNA testing results, which showed no conclusive link to King, became available two weeks before he was released in March.

Prosecutors dropped the charge against King, and the case is being expunged. But the experience seriously shook King, said his attorney, Andrew Jezic.

"It was a long delay that was not atypical for the courts. It was not the prosecutor's fault; it was the DNA lab being understaffed and overworked," Jezic said. "It puts judges in terrible positions. It makes prosecutors look bad because defense attorneys are screaming, 'Not fair, not fair, not fair.' It makes our guy sit in jail for an extra two months, and that's terrible."

Two forensic technicians were hired recently by Prince George's police, but they will not complete training and become court-certified experts for six to eight months, Col. Marcus Summers said. In the meantime, evidence samples will be sent to two private labs.

Outsourcing, however, is not without its problems. Summers estimates that the cost of testing each evidence sample increases by about 50 percent at private labs. He said it can take up to two months to process a case, twice the maximum time recommended by the Justice Department to stay ahead of backlogs.

High demand for testing and low numbers of forensic scientists have also long plagued the Maryland State Police lab, which serves 141 law enforcement agencies across the state. According to a 2005 state budget report, the state police crime lab lost 19 employees over a four-year period; 15 left for higher-paying jobs. The lab has since filled several of those positions, said state police spokesman Sgt. Greg Shipley. The state is in the process of filling 12 vacancies, seven of them in the lab's biology division, which handles DNA analysis.

Peter Marone, director of the Virginia crime lab, estimates the state has a backlog of 1,100 to 1,200 DNA cases. With just 44 DNA examiners in the state, it could take months to complete all the testing. Meanwhile, more cases are arriving by the dozens. Marone hopes the hiring of eight forensic scientists this month will help fix the backlog.

"It's kind of a juggling act," he said. "You kind of feel that you have to work everything at once. People are expecting more and more evidence, because that's what they see on TV."