Pubdate: Sat.25 Dec 1999
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright: 1999 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  Box 334, Memphis, TN 38101
Fax: (901)529-6445
Website: http://www.gomemphis.com/
Author: Paul Payne, The Associated Press        

MISSISSIPPI CRIME LAB'S BACKUP, HANDCUFFS POLICE, PROSECUTORS

JACKSON, Miss. - Delays at the state's crime lab caused by employee
shortages and a time-consuming switch to a national DNA database have
created an evidence-testing backlog that has put more than 800 rape
and murder cases on hold.

Getting results from the lab can take as long as a year, forcing some
law enforcement officials and prosecutors to seek lesser charges
against crime suspects - or let them go free.

"Until you have your facts, you can't make an arrest," said Oxford
Police Chief Steve Bramlett, who waited more than a year for results
he used to get a suspected rapist off the street. "I would love to
solve every case an hour after the crime occurs, but that only happens
on TV."

Frank Hicks, Mississippi's crime lab director, said chronic staffing
shortages and a slow transition to the FBI's national DNA database are
to blame for the long waits.

DNA testing works by comparing evidence from the crime scene to blood
or saliva samples of people believed to be involved.

The lab received an extra $3 million this year to remedy the staffing
problem. It has hired some forensic scientists for other sections but
hasn't hired a DNA specialist, Hicks said.

"The hiring process is a fairly long and drawn-out affair," Hicks
said. "You can't just instantly hire 30 new people to work at the
crime laboratory."

Legislators allocated money to fill 30 lab positions this year.
Officials said increased pay scales will attract top-notch biologists
and experienced forensic scientists. A basic forensic scientist with a
four-year degree in biology can earn as much as $38,000 per year.

Switching to the FBI database is an arduous task that will be
completed sometime in 2000, Hicks said.

"I don't know exactly when it will be complete," said Debbie Haller,
head of the lab's DNA section. "That's sort of the six-million-dollar
question around here."

In the meantime, DNA evidence must be sent out for testing to another
state.

"We really don't have anyone in state who can do this," Haller
said.

Sending evidence as far away as Washington takes time, which can lead
to a break for crime suspects.

A Sunflower County grand jury declined this month to indict Edward
Dewayne Ward, who had been charged in the death of Dorothy Scott of
Dockery.

Dist. Atty. Frank Carlton said he recommended that the grand jury not
indict Ward because the crime lab had not yet sent back results from
tests on a bloody T-shirt and other evidence. Ward has since been
charged with strong-armed robbery and remains in jail.

A yearlong testing delay of evidence in an Oxford rape case kept
police from arresting their prime suspect, 36-year-old Arnor Lee Wilson.

Bramlett said there wasn't enough evidence to arrest Wilson, let alone
makea case against him.

After the receipt of test results, Wilson was arrested Dec. 3, more
than a year after he was accused of raping an Oxford woman in her home.

The lab hopes new hires and tying into the national DNA database will
put criminals behind bars more quickly.

Nearly all states contribute DNA samples of convicted sex offenders to
the national database.

Some add samples from all convicted felons. Virginia has collected
samples from nearly 200,000 felons and Alabama has collected some
73,000 samples, according to the FBI.

Other states such as Louisiana and New Hampshire haven't collected any
samples.

Mississippi has collected blood samples from 1,200 convicted sex
offenders and will plug them into the FBI database when they are processed.

But staff shortages have prevented the state from processing any of
the samples since it began collecting them in earnest in 1996, said
Haller.

Legal experts say at least 500,000 unanalyzed blood samples from
felons are sitting in storage nationwide, sometimes for more than six
years without DNA scientists analyzing them. It is estimated that 1
million or more convicted rapists or murderers have not had blood or
saliva taken for a genetic work-up.
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