Attorney questions accuracy of DNA tests at BSO crime lab, demands lab be shut down

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel hasn't addressed issue

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Broward Sheriff's Office crime lab is under fire for the way it conducts DNA tests.

Broward County public defender Howard Finkelstein is demanding that the BSO crime lab not only be investigated by a grand jury, but also shut down until the agency proves it can follow national standards in DNA tests for criminal defendants.

"The protocols they are using are wrong," Finkelstein said.

He said the procedures and protocol being used "are invalid and likely to yield an inaccurate conclusion."

Finkelstein is reacting to an investigation by the American Society of Crime Lab Directors that found the BSO crime lab has been using faulty methods to conduct DNA tests, including the introduction of a suspect's DNA before the analysis was done and invalid analysis involving complex mixed DNA samples.

"How they do the test, what they look at, how they analyze it and the numbers they compare it to are all inaccurate," Finkelstein said.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel hasn't addressed the issue.

However, Undersheriff Steve Kinsey issued a statement saying the agency is implementing a plan of action to address the problems, institute new standards that meet the requirements and send samples to another laboratory for statistical interpretation until the matter is "completely resolved." 

Finkelstein and his chief assistant public defender Gordon Weekes said the crime lab has been plagued by problems for years and should consider shutting down for good.

"It may be time to look at the (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) coming in and operating our crime lab," Weekes said.

The state attorney's office is in the process of notifying all the defendants in all the criminal cases that could be affected by these DNA tests.

The BSO crime lab is currently outsourcing complex DNA samples at this time, and the agency stresses that, despite the controversy, there have not been any known false DNA identifications by the lab.