Following the release of a report that found analysts at North Carolina’s crime lab omitted, overstated or falsely reported blood evidence in dozens of cases, the local district attorney said he would review the cases where people are still incarcerated.
Of the 190 criminal cases, one involved a 1991 murder case in Burke County. Francisco Flores Macias pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 1992 and was released in 1996. Another five cases were from Catawba County and one case occurred in Caldwell County.
District Attorney Jay Gaither said, “I’m going to take a real hard look at whether the case turned on the serology … If I was of the opinion that they were wrongly convicted then the state will take action to see if that’s addressed and reversed.”
Gaither said his office would review the two cases in Catawba County in which the offenders are still serving a sentence.
In March, N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper ordered a review of the State Bureau of Investigation after an SBI agent testified the crime lab once had a policy of excluding complete blood test results from reports offered to defense lawyers before trials.
The results of the investigation, released Wednesday, found that agents repeatedly aided prosecutors in obtaining convictions over a 16-year period, mostly by misrepresenting blood evidence and keeping critical notes from defense attorneys.
Two former assistant directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation reviewed blood evidence in cases from 1987 to 2003.
“It impacted the decisions that were made — it could have,” report author Chris Swecker said. “Let me step back and make sure you understand: It could have resulted in situations where information that was material and favorable to the defendant was not disclosed.”
But the report does not conclude that innocent people were convicted. The report said blood evidence wasn’t always used at trials and defendants may have admitted to crimes, but prosecutors and defense lawyers need to check whether tainted lab reports helped lead to confessions or pleas.
Cooper said, “This report is troubling. It describes a practice that should have been unacceptable then and is unacceptable now.”
Gaither said he’s seen changes in procedure at the SBI lab in the past eight years, which makes the process transparent.
Gaither said he has not seen a problem with SBI lab results, which have helped resolve thousands of cases since he’s been in office.
“There has not been a serious challenge by the defense bar or the bench except in a handful of cases,” Gaither said. “In the cases where there has been a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, the bench has decided in favor of the defense.”
On Friday, SBI Director Greg McLeod announced the department would begin a national search for a new leader of the state forensic lab.
The current lab director will leave his post. Four of the eight analysts named in the report continue to work for the SBI in some capacity. McLeod sought to remove the agents from casework while a review of their casework continues.