TAINTED BLOOD: 5/27/98 Editorial on Arkansas Crime Lab Incompetence
Crime/Corruption News Keywords: ARKANSAS CRIME LABORATORY TAINTED BLOOD TRAIL
Source: N.W. Arkansas Times
Published: 98-05-27 Author: Editorial
Posted on 02/05/2000 21:52:03 PST by Askel5
N.W. Arkansas Times Editorial 5/27/98
Crime Lab needs help
The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, which has had to overcome a shocking history of ineptitude and flagrant errors,
now finds itself holding thousands of unanalyzed pieces of drug evidence from around the state.
Our Opinion: The state must move to alleviate this situation and provide adequate resources to unclog the criminal
justice system in Arkansas with trust and confidence.
The citizens and taxpayers of any state must be able to trust the findings of the vital public agency charged with
impartially analyzing criminal evidence. Unfortunately, our State Crime Laboratory, which includes the medical
examiner's office has had a long row to hoe.
During the 1970s and '80s, the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory was revealed to be a hotbed in incredible ineptness
and blunders that actually helped convict innocent people who never should have been charged. The mistakes were so
gross and flagrant that criminals who should have been charged and convicted had gone free.
There was the case of Millicent Lynn of Beebe, whose case had been ruled a suicide by drowning until they exhumed
her body a year later and discovered a previously unreported bullet hole through the crown of her head.
Ronald Carden of Bigelow had been wrongly convicted of murder and rape, a fact that came to light a year after the
murder of Mildred Honeycutt of Pocahontas. The Crime Lab dentist had made a wrong initial determination and a hair
analysis from the Crime Lab was proven worthless at the FBI Crime Lab. Carden was ultimately set free by the judge.
David Michel of Little Rock, whose parents now reside in Harrison, had been bludgeoned to death. But the Crime Lab
initially ruled the manner of his death as undetermined. In fact, a former assistant medical examiner named Nanduri had
actually signed two death certificates, one said homicide, the other undetermined. She had officially filed the
"undetermined" certificate and kept the homicide finding in a drawer. A rifle that was ordered examined never was for
over a year. When it finally was checked forensically, charges were filed against a man who was convicted of Michel's
murder.
An inmate at Cummins named Richard Fuller supposedly had died of a heart infection known as myocarditis. But when
questions were raised, his body was exhumed and pathologists discovered his neck had been broken while in the
clutches of a "horse playing" prison guard at 2 a.m.
Then there was the nationally ballyhooed rulings of "suicide" for two teenaged boys on the railroad tracks at Benton.
That one case and other suspect rulings triggered the downslide of former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Fahmy Malak, a
forensic pathologist who started strong and became absorbed by the politics of this agency.
This unbelievable but true list could go on and on. Suffice it to say, these revelations reeked havoc within the state's
criminal justice system. A total of six questionable cases wound up being exhumed and problems with every original
autopsy were discovered.
Finally a halt of the exhumations had to be requested by the governor to keep from exhuming scores or hundred of
bodies.
(Oh boy !! - The Governor ignored the rest of the cases !)
The point is, our medical examiner and crime laboratory offices have had much to live down over the past three
decades. Now it is reported that some 7,000 pieces of drug-related evidence are sitting unanalyzed at this same State
Crime Laboratory. Is the politically appointed board in Arkansas not staying on top of this agency? [uh ... YES?] There
are suggestions for establishing satellite offices around the state to help facilitate the overwhelming need for
expedience in our state's criminal justice system.
So let's get on with it.
The hard truth is we absolutely must have a competent, efficient and effective crime laboratory to ensure justice prevails
in the courtrooms of Arkansas more times than not in our state. There is no other choice.