RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's top law enforcement agency did not always automatically provide complete crime lab test results for use in trials, the agency's director told The Associated Press on Friday, bolstering an accusation that helped exonerate a murder convict this week after 16 years in prison.
Some defense attorneys said the revelation could lead them to re-examine past criminal convictions to see if they were reached without all the information available.
State Bureau of Investigation Director Robin Pendergraft said the agency had, in the past, provided only some information in the formal lab reports it provided to the courts. The more informal "bench notes" from SBI analysts would be available upon request from prosecutors or defense attorneys, she said.
"I wasn't here in '91, but that was the practice," she said. "It was not to withhold. It was simply to give the lab reports and to await requests from either the prosecution or the defense for the bench notes," said Pendergraft, who has been SBI director since 2001.
http://www.newsobserver.com/356/story/348096.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
