78R8989 JLZ-D

By:  Ellis                                                      S.C.R. No. 30 



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, In recent months, the Houston Police Department 
Crime Laboratory has come under intense public scrutiny by 
lawmakers, law enforcement and criminal justice officials, and the 
media, bringing to light a longstanding and disturbing pattern of 
irregularities in its handling of evidence in numerous criminal 
cases; and
	WHEREAS, A state audit conducted last year by the Texas 
Department of Public Safety (DPS) found a number of serious 
shortcomings, including inadequately trained staff, failure to 
file standard scientific protocols, and tolerating for at least 
five years a leaking roof that could have led to evidence being 
contaminated with rainwater; the DPS audit determined that the 
lab's procedures for DNA analysis failed to meet accredited 
industry standards, including benchmarks established by the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation to ensure quality work at DNA 
laboratories; and
	WHEREAS, Testifying before a hearing of the General 
Investigating Committee of the Texas House of Representatives, a 
DPS expert cited the Houston lab as among the worst that she had 
seen in nearly 20 years of auditing DNA labs worldwide; a former 
Harris County DNA analyst corroborated those allegations, saying 
that she had found at least one serious problem in each of 15 cases 
that she reviewed in the early to middle 1990s; and
	WHEREAS, The problems with the Houston laboratory are not 
unique; indeed, one study found that defective and fraudulent 
science ranked fifth among the leading causes of wrongful 
conviction; what makes this particular situation particularly 
disturbing is the egregious nature of the defects and the extent to 
which these defects are likely to have contributed to a widespread 
miscarriage of justice; and
	WHEREAS, More than 200 Harris County death penalty cases are 
currently under review because of the possibility of faulty 
evidence from the lab, and 32 persons convicted with questionable 
DNA evidence already have been executed; evidence used in more than 
20 cases, including seven involving  defendants now on death row, is 
now being retested because of problems with the Houston crime lab; 
and
	WHEREAS, The Houston Police Department voluntarily closed 
the crime lab in January after the lab had failed the DPS audit, and 
the department has asked the National Forensic Science Technology 
Center to conduct a second audit to help determine whether the 
closure should become permanent; the police department also 
announced that it would conduct an internal affairs investigation 
into employee misconduct and policy violations at the lab; and
	WHEREAS, The Harris County District Attorney's Office, 
responding to media attention on the situation, has undertaken an 
unprecedented review of all criminal cases in which evidence was 
processed by the crime lab; however, legislators have received 
indications that the district attorney's office had known for some 
time of the irregularities at the lab; and
	WHEREAS, Given the gravity of the consequences for countless 
defendants in previous criminal trials whose fate rests with a 
proper review of their cases and the evidence presented therein, a 
self-investigation by the police department and a review by the 
district attorney's office are insufficient; the nature and 
quantity of irregularities that have been brought to light demand 
an outside, independent, and thorough review to ensure that justice 
is truly served; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to 
request that the U.S. Department of Justice conduct a thorough 
investigation into the irregularities found in the work of the 
Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory and that the department 
conduct a review of past criminal cases in which the outcome might 
have depended on evidence processed by the laboratory; and, be it 
further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the 
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the 
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.