(as if prosecutors didn't know!) Report Details the Extent of a Crime Lab Technician’s Errors in Handling Evidence
The crime lab technician mislabeled samples, using “the victim’s name instead of suspect’s name,” her evaluation said. Her supervisors disqualified her from testifying in court because of her inability to “explain and retain basic concepts.”
Indeed, for a time, the technician, Serrita Mitchell, was only allowed to perform the most rote assignments at the New York City medical examiner’s office.
When she was given another chance, more errors occurred and she overlooked crucial evidence in a number of rape investigations, according to a new report by the state inspector general’s office.
The report describes a troubling pattern of mistakes at the city’s premier crime lab, also considered among the best in the country.
The inspector general’s office, which has already presented its findings to the medical examiner’s office, is expected to release its report Thursday morning.
The report was commissioned after The New York Times revealed some of Ms. Mitchell’s errors and efforts by the medical examiner’s office to determine the extent of her mistakes. It questioned the office’s application of a new method for interpreting complicated mixtures of DNA.