March 20 TEXAS: Accreditation is a must for Texas crime labs Modern science has provided law enforcement investigators with some great forensic tools, but their effectiveness is only as good as the lab conducting the testing. Problems with crime labs operated by the Houston Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety have focused attention on how such labs operate. Several bills pending in Austin address their accreditation and oversight. During the last legislative session lawmakers assigned the DPS to oversee accreditation of all public DNA labs in the state. The state agency is working with the American Society of Crime Lab Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board. Some crime labs in the state, such as the one in Bexar County, have been accredited by the group; others are in the midst of that process. The society of crime lab directors, founded in 1974, established the accreditation process for crime laboratories to restore confidence in their work. As of last spring, 259 crime labs were accredited by the national group, including 159 state labs. The problem-plagued crime lab operated by the Houston Police Department is not among them. Crime labs must be accountable, and requiring accreditation and regular audits is crucial. The national accreditation board appears to be doing a good job keeping tabs on operations of the crime labs over which it has oversight. Lawmakers should make accreditation by the national group a requirement for all crime labs in Texas. The state should not reinvent the wheel and attempt to establish its own accreditation measures when effective national standards are already in place. A proposal by Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, for creating a Texas Forensic Science Commission to oversee crime lab operations addresses concerns that crime lab directors would be monitoring themselves. The commission proposed by Whitmire would wisely allow a group of professionals outside the crime lab community to investigate misconduct and negligence. (source: Editorial, San Antonio Express-News) MISSOURI: Former prosecutor's fall from grace ends in death---3 are charged in the slaying of a lawyer some say turned to drugs after life unraveled A former prosecutor and family man once known for a firm grasp of the difference between right and wrong, David Masters arrived at his death bound to a chair, his final stop along a road of poor choices. 2 housemates are accused of being his judge and jury, condemning Masters for owing 3 weeks of rent and making passes at a woman with whom he lived. When the woman pulled out a gun, court papers say, Masters said he'd rather die from drugs - so the father of 7 was injected with syringe after syringe of cocaine. The 52-year-old's body was found the next day, March 3, near a river in the Ozarks, a couple hundred miles from this small town where he made his name upholding the law. "No one in their wildest imagination would ever dream he would succumb to an illicit drug problem and associate with the people he did," said James Foley, a former Macon County prosecutor and retired judge. 'A lost soul' No one will say if Masters might have been using drugs as his life fell apart. Since losing re-election in 1998, he'd abandoned clients, separated from his wife and surrounded himself with drug users, his daughter said. Brad Funk, an assistant prosecutor under Masters for more than five years in the 1990s, said his one-time mentor always "tried to do the right thing. That's why it's so shocking, sickening that David ended up such a lost soul." Masters came to Macon in 1990, when then-Gov. John Ashcroft tapped him to be the county's prosecutor. Masters was a sharp, organized litigator who devoted full-time hours to the part-time job, and had a private law practice on the side to make ends meet. "He was as productive as two or three attorneys put together," says Funk, now an associate circuit judge in Mercer County. "I never questioned his decency or his integrity or his abilities as an attorney. He was an officer of the court, and he took that very seriously." A series of crises But after two terms, Masters lost re-election in 1998. He soon seemed overwhelmed by his work. In late 2003, an ex-client was arrested, suspected of setting Masters' law office ablaze. That month, court records show, Masters' wife filed for divorce; they separated but never officially ended the marriage. "His life seemed to unravel," Foley says. Masters moved to the Springfield area in southwest Missouri, but he failed to tell dozens of his clients - some already having paid for his services - and his law license was suspended in January 2004. Masters fell in with the wrong crowd, by many accounts sinking into a subculture of drugs and depression. Today, his housemates - Crystal Broyles, 27, and Thomas Naumann, 49 - and Broyles' sister, 23-year-old Brandi Storment, are charged with 1st-degree murder in his slaying. Prosecutors say Storment was at the house and stole some of Masters' possessions but did not inject him with any cocaine. The defendants are jailed without bail. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Father Wants Daughter's Killer to Get Death Penalty The father of a murdered Florida girl wants her killer to pay with his life. Mark Lunsford says anyone who acts like that does not "deserve to be amongst us." Speaking to reporters near his home Sunday, Lunsford called for his daughter's killer to get the death penalty - and said he'd like to confront the killer himself. The body of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was found Saturday, about 150 yards from her home. A registered sex offender is expected to be charged with her murder. Authorities say John Couey has confessed to kidnapping and killing the girl. Couey was booked early Sunday on a probation violation and failure to register as a sex offender. He's being held without bail. At Jessica's church Sunday, the pastor asked for prayers for the Lunsfords. He also asked worshipers to forgive the killer. Lunsford says he and his relatives will soon begin planning Jessica's funeral. (source: Associated Press)
