Independent probe of troubled military crime lab sought

[Judi Lynn]

Source: McClatchy News

Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Independent probe of troubled military crime lab sought
By Marisa Taylor and Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A U.S. senator has called for an independent investigation of the military's premier crime lab to ensure that innocent people weren't wrongfully convicted based on work by a discredited analyst.

Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday that he'd ask the Defense Department's inspector general to scrutinize the work of former Army analyst Phillip Mills and determine whether the military mishandled problems at the Georgia-based U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory.

"Was key evidence destroyed even as Army supervisors were aware of serious problems in the lab?" Grassley asked. "Did supervisors cover up the alleged problems to spare themselves embarrassment, to the benefit or detriment of criminal defendants?"

McClatchy detailed mistakes made by Mills at the Army laboratory in a series of stories published earlier this month. The series revealed that Mills' errors undermined confidence in hundreds of criminal cases brought against military personnel across the country.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/30/111301/independent-probe-of-troubled.html