Ex-chief testifies about lab's problems

The former head of the besieged Nassau County police crime laboratory told his commanding officer about significant problems at the lab as early as 2006, he testified Thursday morning in Nassau County Court.

Det. Lt. James Granelle said on the stand that he told his immediate supervisor, a police inspector, of problems at the lab as they occurred, including the fact that the lab was put on probation in 2006.

“Being put on probation was a significant event?” asked Garden City defense lawyer Brian Griffin, who is challenging the conviction of his client, Erin Marino, 30, on vehicular assault charges, saying that the results of her blood-alcohol test were not reliable.

Granelle said yes.

“Up the chain of commend it went?” Griffin asked.

“I told my immediate supervisor, yes,” Granelle said.

Griffin then asked if the police commissioner was aware of the problems at the lab.

Granelle said he does not know.

Granelle was subpoenaed to testify at the first hearing to set aside a guilty verdict based on problems at the lab that have been uncovered in recent months.

In December, a national lab accrediting agency informed the Nassau County Police Department that the crime lab was on probation, the only one of nearly 400 labs in the country to have that status. It is one of two labs in the country that has been put on probation twice.

In his opening argument, Griffin said that if the “significant, widespread and long-standing” problems at the lab had been revealed before Marino, of Hicksville, was convicted in August, her verdict would have been different.

But prosecutor Maureen McCormick said that although there have been significant problems at the lab, there is no evidence that those problems affected blood-alcohol testing.

“The issues are whether Ms. Marino received a fair trial, and a fair and accurate blood test,” McCormick said.