Crime-scene investigator made errors in 65 cases, DA's office says - KTRK-TV

HOUSTON (KTRK) --

A crime-scene investigator made errors in 65 cases dating back to October 2015, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

A press release from the DA's office says the findings were a result of a recent audit of work done by a Houston Police Department officer who was assigned to conduct crime scene investigations under the supervision of the Houston Forensic Science Center.

The audit was ordered after mistakes were noticed in several cases investigated by that officer.

"Defense lawyers are going to have a chance to determine for themselves the relevance of these errors or omissions," Tom Berg, first assistant for the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said in the press release. "Because most of these cases have not yet been fully adjudicated, we won't speculate on the possible impact, if any."

The review of 88 cases done by the officer determined that 65 had incomplete documentation, 32 had administrative errors and in eight cases, evidence had been misplaced. It's unknown which specific cases are involved, but we know that the cases with errors included 26 homicide investigations and five officer-involved shootings.

Most of the cases are still pending, meaning they have not gone through the courts. Defense attorneys are finding out which cases have errors and the severity of the errors.

"This officer in particular, we audited through all the cases that we have record of that he has worked on. And in 65 of the cases we found a variety of errors. That's what prompted our disclosure to Texas Forensic Science Commission," Peter Stout of the Forensic Science Center said. "We have been working with this unit for a couple of years particularly, certainly over the last year on how we improve the overall performance of the unit."

The Houston Forensic Science Center made changes to the reports and notified the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Meanwhile, the officer has been reassigned to a patrol position within the police department.

A supervisor who conducted a review of the officer's work and did not recognize the issues has been temporarily removed from review duties, according the DA's office.

Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Ehling spoke with defense attorneys who told him that this could mean cases could be thrown out, or it could be clerical errors that may have no impact on the outcome of a case.

SEE ALSO: Go behind the scenes of Houston's digital forensic crime lab

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