Sept. 24 LOUISIANA----new death sentence Death penalty given to man convicted in Caddo Parish killing In Shreveport, a man convicted of 1st-degree murder in the killing of a liquor store clerk in rural Caddo Parish received a death sentence on Friday. A jury deliberated for about an hour before sending Laderick Campbell to death row. He was convicted on Wednesday of fatally shooting Kathy Parker, 51, of Queen City, Texas, as she worked alone in the Magnolia Club in Rodessa in February, 2002. Her husband was working at a bar next door the night she was killed. Deputies from Cass County, Texas, arrested Campbell the next day. (source: Associated Press) ARIZONA: Ex-death row inmate will get life sentence in fatal robbery spree A jury has determined that Keith Royal Phillips, who once was sentenced to death for a fatal robbery spree, will now face a life sentence in prison. Phillips' death sentence was overturned after a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that juries, not judges, should make the ultimate decision in death penalty cases. His jury Friday morning decided not to impose a death penalty. So now it's up to Judge Howard Fell of Pima County Superior Court to impose either a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years or life without parole. After hearing the jury's decision, Fell set sentencing for Oct. 22. Phillips and Marcus Lasalle Finch were convicted in 1999 for 3 1998 robberies that included the murder of Kevin Hendricks of Sells. Finch, who admitted shooting Hendricks in the back as he ran from a South Side bar, is scheduled to be resentenced in the spring. (source: Tucson Citizen) WASHINGTON (state): State's DNA crime labs get $1.4 million Federal grant will help reduce backlog in handling cases The Washington State Patrol crime labs' overburdened DNA-testing program got a boost yesterday from the federal government -- a $1.4 million grant to help the state chip away at an increasing backlog of cases. Justice Department official Sarah Hart flew to Seattle to announce the grant -- part of a flurry of funding being distributed to state-run crime labs across the country. "We're not using DNA to its full potential," said Hart, director of the National Institute of Justice. "We want this to be a routine criminal justice tool." More than $1 million of the federal money will go toward reducing the State Patrol crime labs' current backlog of more than 700 DNA cases and tackling the 20,000 convicted felon samples waiting to be tested and entered into the FBI's national DNA offender databank. The databank has linked 152 offenders from Washington to previously unsolved crimes since the program began. DNA evidence in criminal cases now waits an average of 6 months before being tested and is sometimes delayed up to 2 years. More than 80 % are serious cases, including homicides, rapes, assaults and robberies. Demand for DNA testing from police agencies statewide has shot up 72 percent this year. "We certainly have some challenges ahead," said Barry Logan, director of the state's 7-lab system, officially called the Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau. A $425,000 chunk of the grant will be used to buy new equipment to automate parts of the DNA-testing process, train forensic scientists and buy chemicals used in DNA analysis, Logan said. Every cell in the human body contains a copy of a person's unique DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid -- a microscopic strand that determines eye color, height and other inherited characteristics. A DNA match in a criminal case is considered infallible proof of guilt or innocence. Hart said the federal government requires labs to comply with strict standards and does "extensive auditing," adding: "We want to make sure the science is good." Labs are required to submit to DNA audits every two years to receive federal funding. Those audits are done on contract by forensic experts from other state-run or private labs. The lab also undergoes a voluntary industry-run accreditation every 5 years. Critics have said that the accreditation and audits are rubber stamps that don't set high-enough standards. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported this summer that forensic scientists at the labs have contaminated tests or made other mistakes while handling DNA evidence in at least 23 major crime cases during the last 3 years. The last DNA audit, done in 2002, did not raise this issue. The P-I's investigation also raised questions about other systemic flaws, including failures in the lab system's internal checks and balances, and delays in dealing with misconduct or inept work by veteran employees. SPECIAL REPORT----"ERRORS IN EVIDENCE" Read the P-I investigation into Washington's crime lab system online: www.seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/crimelab/ (source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer) MICHIGAN: Michigan gets $3.7 million for DNA tests----State hopes to clear up major backlog of unanalyzed samples to solve crimes. The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday announced a $3.7 million grant to Michigan authorities to help solve crimes through DNA evidence testing. Michigan, like the rest of the nation, is trying to compile a DNA database of convicted felons to provide leads in unsolved cases, especially violent crimes such as murder and rape. But a backlog of unanalyzed samples can significantly delay criminal investigations for months, even years, officials said. "Michigan is very progressive in terms of collecting DNA evidence but has backlogs like most of the nation," said Deborah Daniels, an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs. "This grant will help solve more crime and breathe life into old cases." DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the microscopic material that is part of every person's unique genetic makeup. It is contained in human blood, semen, saliva or hair left behind at crime scenes, and can be used to match suspects to crimes. Daniels said the grant is part of a federal $1 billion, 5-year plan to reduce a national backlog of more than 500,000 DNA records waiting to be tested. Michigan annually budgets about $7.3 million to run 3 crime labs where 32 workers process DNA tests of past and current cases. About 5,000 new convicted felons and 1,000 DNA requests pour in each month, say state police, who already had a 10-year backlog of tests of convicted felons that had not been analyzed. The department obtained a separate $3.4 million Justice Department grant earlier this year. The latest grant earmarks more than $2.8 million toward labs and casework reduction at the Michigan State Police; nearly $420,000 to lab improvements at the Detroit Police Department and $185,000 to Michigan State University for DNA research. Under law, all convicted felons in Michigan must submit to DNA tests, resulting in about 50,000 tests annually that are also submitted to state and national databases. But that can take time. Earlier this year The News reported how a backlog in DNA testing let an Oakland County suspect in a Wixom rape roam free while police waited for evidence needed to arrest him. During the wait, he raped another woman twice in Highland Township, investigators said. John S. Morgan, assistant director with the Justice Department program, says his department's goal is for every state to be able to turn investigations involving DNS around in 30 days. "We believe that is attainable," he said. Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca was encouraged by the grant. "DNA is such an important tool because it not only can point you to the person responsible for a crime, it can also provide evidence they could not have done it," he said. (source: Detroit News)
