Re: 2/11/01 - Asbury Park Press: Backlog on DNA tests
Backlog on DNA tests
Published in the Asbury Park Press 2/11/01
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI
STAFF WRITER
Although DNA technology has revolutionized the legal system, don't expect it to speed things up, at least not yet.
As scientists get used to the latest testing procedures and contend with the delicate equipment involved, New Jersey State Police labs are experiencing delays of up to six months in performing the tests, according to Capt. Carl Leisinger, supervisor of the special and technical services section.
"Everybody's backlogged, no matter where you send it," Leisinger said. "Nobody's going to give you an instant turnaround, unless you go to a private lab, and then you pay upwards of $10,000."
The current technology is a test called STR, or short tandem repeats, which can identify a DNA sample as having come from one out of a quadrillion people, or 10-to-the-17th power, Leisinger said.
"Only 10-to-the-seventh power people ever existed since the beginning of time," he said. "We can say, 'That is the person,' unequivocally.' "
The test involves taking a section of DNA and repeating, or magnifying, it, Leisinger said. It allows testing of a sample of 3 millimeters or less, which Leisinger described as "the size of the lead in the pencil when you have it sharpened."
The State Police lab in Trenton started testing with STR in July 1999. It has been credited with helping prove at least one major murder case in Monmouth County, the case of Raymond Franklin, who later pleaded guilty in the stabbing death of video-store clerk Donna Jean Roberts in West Long Branch on Oct. 29, 1999.
But Leisinger said the testing has proved helpful to defendants, as well.
In 28 percent of the cases the lab receives, defendants are cleared by the testing, Leisinger said. "So basically, the State Police laboratories just (don't) work for the prosecution. We work for the defense. We're literally telling them, 'That is not the person.' It's objective results. So whoever it favors, it favors."
Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said the test is being used in some high profile cases, including the still-unsolved case of two penny-stock promoters gunned down in Colts Neck in October 1999.
Kaye declined to discuss any details, but said DNA testing had cleared at least one suspect in that case who otherwise might have been arrested in the shooting deaths of Alain Albert Chalem and Maier S. Lehmann.
"It's an extraordinary tool, and I'm all in favor of it," Kaye said of the testing. "I want to use it all the time, on everything."
The testing backlog is attributable partly to a sizable increase in the number of cases the lab receives, Leisinger said. In the past year, the number has nearly tripled, he said, and the laboratory has requested additional staff, which it expects to receive within the next four months.
But new regulations put out by a national organization known as SWIGDAM, or Scientific Working Group DNA Analysts Methods, require technicians to be trained for a full year before doing case work, Leisinger said. The scientists also have to take proficiency tests every 180 days to maintain their certifications. "The things below the surface kind of slow things down," he said.
Also, there was a problem with the lab's heating-and-ventilation system, which Leisinger said has been solved. But the problem caused the lab equipment to shut down several times in the last year for up to two weeks at a time because the equipment is supposed to shut down if the room temperature deviates more than 2 degrees from a required setting.
Further, all testing has to be validated by another lab, Leisinger said. He said his lab sends its cases to a New York lab and, in turn, performs the validation tests for that lab.
Although there is a six-month backlog, the actual testing takes about two weeks to complete, Leisinger said. He said he expects in six to eight months to have the backlog reduced to three months. If a case urgently needs to be done, it can be done in two months, Leisinger said.
If a case has an extreme priority, the testing can be done in two to three weeks, Leisinger said. "That's if we . . . literally drop everything else and do this case."
Referring to the backlog, Leisinger said, "We have nowhere to go but down, unless we get an influx of a lot of cases. As it (the testing) gets more popular and as we educate more prosecutors, which we're doing now, there should be an increase." But he said he doesn't think the increase should significantly add to the backlog.
Although Kaye said he's heard other prosecutors complain about problems caused by the delays, the Monmouth County prosecutor added, "I don't see it as a big problem."
Kaye has blamed the delay for the fact that his office has not yet presented the case of murder sus-pect Glen Lopez to a grand jury. Lopez is charged with murdering Raymond C. McMahon, his girl-friend's brother, in Bradley Beach, last July.
His lawyer, Maria Noto, recently unsuccessfully asked a judge to dismiss the murder charge and free Lopez because of the failure to secure an indictment yet. Last week, Kaye said the Lopez case was the only one in which the testing delay has become a formal issue.
Published on February 11, 2001
Copyright 1997-2001 INJersey
injersey.com |
