Pubdate: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 Source: Daily News, The (New Zealand) Copyright: 2004, Independent Newspapers Limited Contact: http://www.thedailynews.co.nz/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1056 Author: Lyn Humphreys P FOR PATIENCE IN COURT CRISIS Accused drug manufacturers may walk free if a crisis at ESR (the Institute of Environmental Science and Research) is not soon resolved. The P epidemic hitting the country has resulted in a huge backlog in processing evidence gathered from clandestine laboratories discovered by police. Some cases were waiting 18 months to be heard in court. Criminal lawyers are now arguing that the wait for their clients is breaching the Bill of Rights, which requires people to be tried without undue delay. In Taranaki there are three cases held up by the backlog. One man, Phillip Brian Marriner (44), was remanded in jail last July when a laboratory was allegedly uncovered at his Rahotu home. Last Wednesday, Marriner's depositions hearing in the New Plymouth District Court had to be postponed because the ESR had not completed analysing the forensic evidence. Judge Bidois told the court it was extremely worrying because Marriner's case was considered minor compared with others waiting to proceed. "It is certainly a problem when you consider what is going to happen when we get to the big cases," Judge Bidois said. Outside court, Marriner's lawyer, Paul Keegan, said the wait was of concern and was happening across the country. The analysis was crucial to the case, he said. "It is very, very unsatisfactory that after nine months we still don't know what was found there." The delay was of even more concern because his client had been in jail all that time. "The police are estimating it will be another 12 months before what was seized at the Rahotu house can be analysed and some sort of case can be established to put him on trial. "If the Government wants to enforce laws they need to properly resource the ESR so that the processing and analysis of clandestine labs don't conflict with the Bill of Rights." Section 25 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights 1990 states everyone has the right to be tried without undue delay, Mr Keegan said. New Plymouth CIB's drug squad head, Detective Sergeant Greg Gray agreed the delays were frustrating for everyone. There was now a real possibility charges could be withdrawn. "ESR do a great job. It's just the sheer weight of numbers has put the pressure on. "There's not a lot we can do. We've done our part, it's that ESR just don't have sufficient numbers of trained people." The ESR and police hierachy were aware of the concerns and looking into ways of attacking the problem, he said. "I just hope that serious cases don't get away scot free. It has to be a combined effort from everyone." ESR's job started when a lab was uncovered. They took the samples on site, went back to the ESR forensic laboratory, started processing - and were called out to yet another clan lab. One way lengthy delays could be avoided was only charging alleged offenders after the ESR had completed their reports, Mr Gray said. ESR confirmed this week it currently had 170 cases to deal with. This number was expected to grow to 300 by June. Each case takes about a week to complete for the eight ESR forensic scientists. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake