Cases are likely to include area troops
US: Local military defense lawyers are eager to learn how many crime-lab tests being examined for evidence of tampering involve sailors and Marines from bases in San Diego County.
The Army's Criminal Investigation Command said nearly 500 forensic test results from all services dating back 10 years are under review after one of its examiners allegedly faked results. About 119 of those cases pertain to the Navy and Marine Corps.
Defense analysts said this is one of the military's largest cases of alleged DNA evidence tampering.
An Army lab at Fort Gillem, Ga., does forensic testing for all branches of the military.
It is almost certain that some of the cases being scrutinized are from San Diego County, the defense lawyers said.
Camp Pendleton ranks first or second in the Marine Corps for courts-martial, said attorney Jane Siegel, a retired Marine judge who now works as a military defense lawyer in North County.
Siegel also said it is likely that the lab evidence played a key role "because DNA testing has a shock-and-awe effect on juries and is usually only used in serious cases."
Lab-testing issues strike at the credibility of the military justice system and could cause "huge problems" depending on how many - if any - falsified cases are found, said defense attorney David M. Brahms, a former Marine brigadier general and top lawyer in the Marine Corps.
"I don't know how the government could not overturn those cases (in which evidence was falsified). Remember that the government has the burden of proof," Brahms said. "Another trouble will be if the evidence was used to convince a defendant to plead guilty. The biggest problem cases will be the ones that were tried a long time ago. Memories fade, evidence is lost."
Siegel predicted, "A problem like this is going to be kicking around the courts for a long time."
Broader concerns were raised at the Army lab in June after the examiner admitted to faking a DNA test. Later, investigators discovered a problem with the examiner's testing of serums.
The Army has hired a consultant to review 465 cases that the forensic examiner worked on since 1995 at the Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory at Fort Gillem. The cases - ranging from robbery to murder to rape - include 22 cases in which the examiner gave expert testimony.
The Army informed the Navy and Marine Corps about their 119 cases in August. Spokesmen for bases in San Diego County said they didn't have more specifics.
"We are going above and beyond in our investigation because we've gotta be above reproach," said Chris Grey, spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command.
Grey said the Army has asked the Inspector General's Office of the Defense Department to conduct an independent review of the investigation.
An audit by the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation concluded that the Fort Gillem forensic lab met all minimum criteria for a DNA lab, Grey said.
By Rick Rogers posted 25 November 05
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