Houston police union says forensics chief should resign over backlog
Published: Sat, 07/29/23
Houston police union says forensics chief should resign over backlog
There are about 4,000 pieces of unprocessed evidence from criminal trials, according to the Center's publicly available data.
By Michael MurneyThe Houston Forensic Science Center's backlog is around 4,000 pieces of unprocessed evidence.
Dr. Peter Stout, CEO Houston Forensic Science Center, speaks during a press conference at HFSC, 500 Jefferson St., Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in Houston. According to the Houston Forensic Science Center's publicly available data, there are about 4,000 pieces of unprocessed evidence in the backlog. Melissa Phillip/Staff photographer
The Houston Forensic Science Center is an independent organization that analyzes evidence collected by the Houston Police Department during criminal investigations. According to data published on the Center's website, there are about 4,000 pieces of evidence that have been awaiting analysis for over 30 days, when evidence is officially considered to be backlogged.
Harris County's criminal courts systems has been dealing with a catastrophic case backlog since Hurricane Harvey in 2017—an accumulation that was then exacerbated by the pandemic. However, Police Union president Douglas Griffith claims that judges are releasing more people because of the Center's backlogged evidence.
"When you start taking a look at the way cases are adjudicated over in Harris County, often we've had a large number of dismissals that normally would be convictions and a lot of that has to do with our backlog. There needs to be an accounting for everything we have over there [at the Center], what the true backlog is and how they're going to fix it," Griffith said.
The Houston Forensic Science Center did not respond to Chron's request for comment.
The lab was once part of the department, until a series of scandals in the 2000s concerning "scientifically unsound" practices and "pervasive" problems with DNA testing prompted city officials to establish the facility as a separate entity with its own board of directors. “As a natural course of things, the lab analysts would have access to information that as a neutral lab, you shouldn’t. And it might put the thumb on the scale a little bit about what results were expected,” Bob Wicoff, a criminal defense attorney now with the Harris County Public Defender’s Office, told the Texas Observer in 2022.
Under the leadership of Dr. Peter Stout, the Center has operated independently from the Houston Police Department since 2014.