Pubdate: Thu, 03 Mar 2016
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2016 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Andrew Seidman

BOTCHED LAB WORK MAY IMPERIL CASES

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office has notified prosecutors 
that a forensic scientist botched a lab analysis in a drug case, 
potentially calling into question thousands of criminal cases across the state.

The attorney general has advised county prosecutors to alert defense 
counsel in the 7,800 cases on which the scientist worked since 2005. 
Most of the cases are in North Jersey, according to a spokesman for 
the Attorney General's Office.

The scientist, Kamal Shah, worked in the drug unit of the State 
Police's North Regional Laboratory.

He was "observed in one case spending insufficient time analyzing a 
substance to determine if it was marijuana and recording an 
anticipated result without properly conducting the analysis," Elie 
Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice, wrote in a Feb. 
22 letter to prosecutors that was obtained by the Inquirer.

"In an abundance of caution, we believe that we have a duty to 
disclose this recently obtained information because the scientist 
participated in analyzing evidence and/or testified in drug cases 
from your counties or bureaus."

Shah was "removed" from case analysis in December 2015, the letter 
said. An attempt to reach him Wednesday evening was unsuccessful.

The New Jersey Law Journal, citing an internal memo in the public 
defender's office, said about 2,100 of the cases might be in Passaic 
County alone.

"The larger, and unanswered, question is how this impacts already 
resolved cases, especially those where the specimens may have been 
destroyed," the memo read.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom