Forensic panel members object to criticism

Dissent over the recent New York inspector general's report slamming the state commission that oversaw the now-shuttered Nassau crime lab could come to a head Thursday when the 14-member panel meets in Manhattan.

After weeks of silence, two members of the New York State Commission on Forensic Science told Newsday they objected to Inspector General Ellen Biben's finding that the group did not adequately monitor the police crime lab.

However, a third commission member supports the findings in Biben's Nov. 10 report.

Biben found the commission abdicated most of its responsibility for the lab to a private accrediting agency, ASCLD/LAB, which inspects crime laboratories. The commission allowed the facility to operate as "a substandard laboratory for far too long," Biben found.

But commission member William Fitzpatrick, who is also district attorney for upstate Onondaga County, said in a phone interview the group did not abdicate its responsibilities.

"I think that's a complete misrepresentation of what we do and what we did in this case," Fitzpatrick said. "That's absurd. We want to make the labs as best as can be."

Slipshod drug-testing and bungled evidence analysis at the police lab threatened criminal case outcomes and resulted in its Feb. 18 shutdown. The Nassau medical examiner's office has taken over the lab.

Another commission member, Manhattan defense attorney Marvin Schechter, applauded Biben's findings.

"The commission needs to break out of its lethargy and indifference to forensic science," said Schechter. "It seems to me that Biben's recommendations are well-founded and well-grounded."

But commission member Ann Willey, former state health department director of laboratory policy and planning, agreed with Fitzpatrick. Willey said that while Biben's report was thorough it overstated the lab's problems.

"I don't think the evidence related to Nassau is as damning as some might suggest," Willey said.

When the problem finally came to a head, the lab closed.

"I think the office of the inspector general has missed the point," Willey said. "She made it sound like the commission could just snap its fingers and things would happen. That's not the case."

Willey said the commission, which falls under the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, had no resources or money to implement reform.

The criminal justice agency would have to provide resources, Willey said.

Willey also said: "The commission does not have the technical expertise to be telling crime labs what to do."