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31 May 2006
House committee to assist Bromwich with subpoenas
The Chronicle's Steve McVicker reports that three key witnesses who have thus far refused to answer questions from Michael Bromwich about the HPD crime lab may soon be compelled to do so by a Texas House committee:
Three recalcitrant witnesses believed to hold key information concerning the root of problems at the Houston Police Department crime lab could soon be forced to tell what they know.
Michael Bromwich, the city's independent investigator, and Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, chairman of the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics, confirmed Tuesday that an unorthodox agreement has been reached that would let Bromwich use the committee's subpoena power to compel the uncooperative former lab employees to testify under oath.
"We're pleased we've been able to reach an agreement with Chairman Bailey and the members of his committee that will advance our investigation," Bromwich said.
In his latest report on the crime lab released earlier this month, Bromwich, a former U.S. Justice Department inspector general, said DNA and serology analysts may have tailored their findings to support predetermined crime theories.
Bromwich also complained that the probe by his team of forensic investigators has been hindered by an absence of cooperation from three ex-crime lab employees: former lab supervisor Don Krueger, former DNA lab chief James Bolding and former analyst Christy Kim.
Krueger retired in February 2003 after the DNA section's widespread problems were exposed. Former Police Chief C.O. Bradford later recommended that Krueger be fired for his role in the lab's problems. Bolding resigned in 2003 to avoid being fired. Kim was fired, but the Civil Service Commission re-instated her and she later retired.
It will be useful finally to have detailed testimony from these three former employees.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Bromwich investigation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Bromwich with subpoenas"> 05/31/06 09:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
25 July 2006
KTRH: Councilmembers balk at Bromwich funding request
Back in June, the Chronicle's Matt Stiles reported that some members of City Council were balking at the latest request for funding from Michael Bromwich, who is heading the investigation of the HPD crime lab.
Today, KTRH-740's Brent Fuller reports that Bromwich has suspended his work while a City Council committee considers the request for funding:
The independent investigator looking into decades of problems at the Houston Police Department's troubled crime lab is asking for an additional $1.5 million to finish his work.
If approved by Houston City Council, that amount would roughly double what was first approved for Michael Bromwich's review. It would bring the total cost of the investigation to $5.3 million. As of today, Bromwich said he'd spent $3.6 million, and has about $200,000 left in the bank. That's not enough to finish the job, so Bromwich has temporarily stopped his probe of the lab.
"We decided the prudent thing to do would be to cease work for now until we could see where this was going, and make intelligent decisions about where to go next," said Bromwich.
Fuller's lengthy story goes on to note that some councilmembers continue to balk at Bromwich's request for funds.
While costs have certainly spiraled beyond initial estimates, the Bromwich team seems to be doing an extremely thorough job that needs to be done. The city ultimately isn't going to have much choice but to approve his final funding request, however much posturing is done in committee.
UPDATE (07-26-2006): Alexis Grant covers the story for the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Bromwich funding request"> 07/25/06 11:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
30 March 2005
HPD crime lab has new leadership to conduct probe
The Chronicle is reporting a development in the HPD crime lab probe:
The former inspector general for the U.S. Justice Department will head the probe of the Houston Police Department's embattled crime laboratory.
The City Council this morning approved the hiring of Michael R. Bromwich to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of the work of the HPD lab — in some cases going back as far as 1987.
The contract calls for Bromwich, and the Washington, D.C. law firm that employs him, to be paid as much as $2.2 million to carry out the investigation.
According to the contract, Bromwich and his crew of assistants and subcontractors will examine the operations of these crime lab divisions during the period from 1998 through 2004: trace analysis, controlled substances, firearms, questioned documents and toxicology.
The investigators will review the work of the department's serology and DNA labs, dating back to 1987.
Previously, Chief Hurtt has been criticized for not moving faster to deal with crime lab problems.
RELATED: HPD crime lab fails to gain accreditation (blogHOUSTON), HPD Chief says crime lab to be accredited soon (blogHOUSTON)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/30/05 03:43 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
03 January 2006
It's not pretty?
KHOU-11's Amy Tortolani reports the following:
There's another scathing report on Houston's troubled crime lab -- this time from the man hired by the city to help uncover the problems there.
Former Inspector General Michael Bromwich looked for errors dating back to 1987. The results of his report aren't out yet, but 11 News has learned it's not pretty.
That's it. No details. Just "it's not pretty."
UPDATE (01-04-2006): The Chronicle's Steve McVicker reports on the latest report from the Bromwich investigation, released today. The report is available on the investigation website.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/03/06 10:44 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
10 January 2006
HPD crime lab investigator wants to expand inquiry
The Chronicle reports that Michael Bromwich, who is leading the investigation of HPD's crime lab, has suggested to a City Council committee that he needs subpoena power to continue his work:
The special investigator probing the Houston crime lab scandal told a City Council committee today that his team needs subpoena power because some key figures are refusing to cooperate.
At least one former supervisor and one former crime lab analyst have refused to talk with investigators who are trying to unravel the web of problems plaguing the Houston Police Department facility, Michael Bromwich said.
The official reports detail Bromwich's unsuccessful efforts to secure interviews with some of the key players.
KHOU-11's Reggie Agui reports that Bromwich wants to expand the probe in other ways:
On Tuesday, Houston’s City Council heard more about the report and why the independent investigator believes it doesn’t go back far enough.
Independent investigator Michael Bromwich said he needs to look at cases going back to 1980.
The independent investigator found that 40 percent of the DNA cases he reviewed had serious flaws – something City Council knew going into Tuesday’s meeting.
What the City Council didn’t know is how long the investigation may take, as it may only be just the beginning.
Until now, the crime lab investigation only looked at cases from 1987 and on.
But the man leading the review said he needs more.
“Going back at least to 1980,” said independent investigator Michael Bromwich. “That is, identifying all serology cases in which the serology work may be related either by trial or by guilty plea to a conviction.”
That means potentially looking at hundreds more cases, each of which will require more time and more money.
The city doesn't have much choice but to get to the bottom of the crime lab problems. They've simply been ignored for too long.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: KPRC-2.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/06 10:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
21 August 2005
Mayor changes course; Now there's money for HPD probe
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles reports that Mayor White has stepped up with funding plans for the next phase of the Bromwich investigation of the HPD crime lab:
The investigation into problems at the Houston crime lab, stalled because of rising costs, could resume under a plan Mayor Bill White will present to the City Council next week.
The mayor's spokesman said Friday that the city has the $1.6 million a special investigator says he needs.
"The mayor believes that we have the funding sources to back it up," spokesman Frank Michel said.
That comes after even the Chronicle editorial board had to give some credit to favorite "bad guy" Chuck Rosenthal for offering to fund part of the investigation in order to move it along.
The "public safety" mayor had previously been awfully quiet on the delay in the Bromwich investigation. Perhaps Rosenthal's offer to get it moving again embarrassed him into action.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/21/05 10:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
29 June 2007
Mack: Clarence Bradford eyes run for DA post
In a column about Democratic aspirations to sweep Harris County in 2008, the Chronicle's Kristen Mack includes this bit of hilarity:
Former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford will take on GOP District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.
[snip]
The most intriguing matchup will be the DA's race, given the long history between Bradford and Rosenthal.Bradford, who served as police chief in Mayor Lee Brown's administration, still has some battle scars.
Among them, a last-minute pay raise Brown gave Bradford that increased his pension, the crime lab debacle that began during his tenure, and an indictment on a perjury charge that eventually was dismissed by a trial judge.
Bradford was considering running for sheriff — going from the top cop in the city to the top officer in the county seems a more natural jump — but his strategists advised him that Thomas would be able to capitalize on each of those mishaps.
A matchup against Rosenthal would play like a grudge match, potentially giving Bradford some inoculation.
It will be difficult for Clarence Bradford to inoculate himself against his own record during the Lee Brown reign of error, not to mention the pointed criticism he received in the Bromwich reports on the crime lab fiasco.
Come to think of it, Bradford never really has answered to the public following the criticism from Bromwich. His campaign for DA ought to provide an excellent opportunity for him to answer all sorts of questions about his significant role in the crime lab fiasco.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/29/07 11:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (15)
03 February 2007
Former HPD Chief Bradford to run for Harris County Sheriff?
We hope he does. Aside from the Bromwich reports (which have gone largely unread by the broader Houston-area population), there has been little public discussion of the role that the dynamic duo of Lee Brown and Clarence Bradford played in the scandalous mismanagement of HPD's crime lab over the years.
A campaign for Harris County Sheriff ought to provide plenty of opportunities for Bradford to enlighten the public on his role in the matter.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/03/07 02:57 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (3)
08 January 2006
HPD crime lab back in the news
We've previously noted the deficiencies in the Houston Chronicle's reporting and editorializing on the Bromwich investigation into the HPD crime lab, so it's no surprise that the newspaper's recent coverage of the Fourth Bromwich report (issued Friday) has some problems.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/08/06 10:45 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
24 August 2005
City finally to move forward with Bromwich investigation
KTRK-13 reports that Mayor White and his Council have finally approved funding that will allow the Bromwich investigation of the HPD crime lab to proceed:
The city of Houston has found the money to pay for an extensive investigation of HPD's crime lab and property room.
On Wednesday, the city council OK'd an additional $1.1 million to pay for phase two of the crime lab investigation. The probe had been on hold for the past several weeks because of funding problems and HPD warned it might have to cut a police cadet class to pay the bills.
Wednesday's vote means that won't happen.
In a just world, the Chronicle editorial board would plant a big smooch on the cheek of Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, who showed up a footdragging Mayor White by offering to fund a large part of the investigation from his discretionary budget, and got this investigation moving again.
RELATED COVERAGE: KUHF-88.7.
UPDATE (08-25-2005): Additional coverage from the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Bromwich investigation"> 08/24/05 10:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 August 2005
Crime lab investigation delayed; Mayor won't comment
Michael Bromwich's review of the HPD crime lab has been delayed:
Michael Bromwich, the former U.S. Justice Department official who is leading the investigation, and his panel of experts have been idle since they issued a series of reports in June that exposed troubling faults such as analysts who were accused of fabricating test results. The group began its work March 30.
The city initially budgeted $2.2 million for the first year of the investigation, and a $1 million balance remains. Even so, Houston Police Department officials have told the team it must receive approval from the City Council before it can start the second phase of its investigation — a review of about 3,000 criminal cases that have already been prosecuted.
Although the investigating team is independent, it must rely on HPD officials to carry funding requests to the City Council. Police Capt. David Watkins said he expects to take the proposal for the second phase of the investigation, which includes a request from Bromwich for an additional $1.6 million, before the council in about two weeks, meaning work will be interrupted for a minimum of six weeks.
[snip]
Mayor Bill White's office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chronicle editorial board is really going to have to stretch to blame this on Harris Country District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/04/05 10:45 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 June 2006
Bromwich requests another $1.5 million for crime lab probe
Michael Bromwich, the independent investigator looking into problems with the HPD crime lab, is asking the city for another $1.5 million to complete his investigation, Matt Stiles reports. Mayor White and Councilmember Garcia seem to be resisting:
White said he would have to study the details before deciding whether to recommend the additional funding. He said was concerned about the process costing more than originally estimated.
“We do need to make sure that we look at any case where the evidence behind a conviction may be in doubt,” he said. “I hate to spend any money on anything that we don’t need to.”
[snip]
Councilman Adrian Garcia, a former police officer who chairs the committee, said he wants to see the work completed within the current budget. “I want to find out what needs to happen to resolve this,” he said.
Councilmembers Alvarado and Lovell have endorsed the funding:
Councilwoman Carol Alvarado said she supports paying the extra money. She said the city should pay whatever is necessary to ferret out what she repeatedly called “intentional scientific fraud” by some lab employees.
“I would hope that what was in this last report is helpful in getting council members to support the money,” she said. “This has been very frustrating for me because a long time ago I said, ‘I’m not going to rest until somebody’s head is on a platter.’ And we still have not been able to pinpoint anyone and hold them accountable.”
Councilwoman Sue Lovell agreed.
“We have a moral obligation,” she said. “There needs to be an exhaustive investigation.”
Councilmember Lovell makes a good point. Councilmember Alvarado, on the other hand, seems not to understand that the question of the intent of some of the analysts is what remains to be investigated. Stating that there has been "intentional scientific fraud" simply isn't supported by the investigation's results to date, and is irresponsible.
Houblog makes a very compelling case for the city to spend the money to complete Bromwich's investigation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Bromwich requests another $1.5 million for crime lab probe"> 06/13/06 11:01 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
10 May 2006
KHOU: HPD crime lab report due Thursday
KHOU-11 reports that Michael Bromwich is set to release an update on the investigation of the HPD crime lab.
The report will presumably be available on the investigation website, following the requisite press briefing.
UPDATE (05-11-2006): The report is now available on the website. I won't have time to read the report until tonight. However, feel free to discuss it in the comments in the meantime.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/10/06 10:49 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
19 September 2006
Crime lab investigation stalled; Mayor has no opinion
The Chronicle reports that the city is still dragging its feet on spending the money necessary for Michael Bromwich's team to finish its investigation of HPD's crime lab:
The only comprehensive investigation of the Houston crime lab remains on hold, three months after dwindling funds stalled the probe that first exposed evidence of serious problems such as falsified test results and the tailoring of reports to fit police theories.
While Police Chief Harold Hurtt has expressed support for completing the inquiry, another high-ranking police official has said it is not worth the $1.5 million investigators are seeking. Several City Council members also have raised doubts, and Mayor Bill White has been noncommittal.
[snip]
"My question to Mr. Bromwich is, basically, 'What are you going to provide in that $1.5 million that we haven't already received?' " Executive Assistant Police Chief Martha Montalvo said at a July 25 council committee meeting.
Hurtt, however, has said he would like to see Bromwich complete the probe.
"The money would have to be worked out by City Council," he said after Montalvo's comments, "but we ought to let him finish up his job."
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, who last year provided $500,000 to help with the probe, agreed Monday that the team should be allowed to complete its work.
Hurtt and Rosenthal are right. The city has already spent a considerable amount of money on this investigation, which is not complete. HPD's crime lab fiasco has cast doubt on this area's criminal justice system. Finishing this important investigation into what went wrong really is not optional.
The stunner here is Mayor White's refusal to take a stand one way or the other, just as he has refused to take a stand on his soft-on-crime police chief's temporarily suspended no-chase policy. We elect leaders to lead. So it's time for Mayor White to push this investigation to its rightful conclusion, or to explain why investigating past problems with our criminal justice system does not merit the expenditure (instead of hiding behind an executive assistant police chief).
This is one area where money shouldn't even be that big a concern, but here's a win-win proposal -- since Mayor White continues to insist that his red-light-camera revenue stream really isn't about the money, surely he can't object to setting aside revenues generated by the red light cameras to fund the conclusion of Michael Bromwich's investigation of HPD's crime lab.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/19/06 12:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
13 July 2008
Bradford comes out of hiding, spreads the blame for the crime lab mess
Alan Bernstein's profile of Democratic Harris County District Attorney candidate Clarence Bradford (which has already generated discussion here and elsewhere) heads into almost virgin territory for this campaign, as Bernstein actually managed to entice Bradford out of hiding to talk about various scandals during his time as HPD Chief.
Given the (low) quality of the answers, one can certainly understand why Bradford's handlers prefer him hiding from the press.
Here are some sidebar comments on Bradford's notion of responsibility:
- "Anytime something goes wrong in the police department the chief is responsible. If the toilet doesn't flush in the police building, the chief has to take responsibility for that. That's part of the job"
- "9/11 happened when President Bush was president. I don't blame the president for 9/11 happening because he was president at the time, OK? Things happen"
Things happen, yes. But as the Bromwich reports made clear, life-and-death things happened with the HPD crime lab during Bradford's watch, and Bradford was part of the problem.
Bradford, though, admits that he hasn't read those reports -- reports for which area government spent millions so we could try finally to fix the problems of the crime lab -- and that he doesn't plan to:
The former chief, however, said he had no intention of reading all of the reports on the two-year, $5.3 million investigation of the crime lab by a team led by Michael Bromwich, a former U.S. Justice Department inspector.
Asked why, Bradford replied: "Because I was part of the process (of the investigation). I am familiar with the reports; I have read the summary of all of them."
The reports repeatedly fault HPD's "chain of command" for lax oversight. Bradford said he disagrees with some of the conclusions.
Any candidate for Harris County District Attorney who has pledged NOT to read more than a summary of the Bromwich reports on the crime lab should be disqualified from pursuing the office. That's just an astounding, damning, admission.
Moving on from the responsibility theme, Bradford does have in mind who's really to blame for mismanagement of the crime lab:
"What I should have done — which I didn't see until this all blew up — I should have at least annually gotten independent audits of the crime lab, as opposed to relying on, like the two previous chiefs had done, this particular supervisor ... stating the crime lab met all the federal standards," he said. "So, yes, that's when I dropped the ball. I relied too heavily on the people with the science and biology degrees."
The experts let Clarence the Delegator down! Oh, and so did the other member of Houston's Dynamic Duo at the time:
Bradford, 52, said he was unable to increase lab staffing because of tight budgets dictated by Lanier's successor, Lee Brown — whose law enforcement consulting company, Brown Group International, has employed him since his retirement.
So, this man who won't be capable of trying major cases in court because of lack of experience and has said -- in this profile even -- that as District Attorney, he will be a major public voice and manager rather than a prosecutor -- wasn't able to persuade Lee Brown, Council, or the public that perhaps funding to deal with some known issues at the crime lab would be a good idea? That seems like a guy who isn't likely to be a persuasive public-facing District Attorney either.
But he wants voters to know he's learned from the ordeal:
Bradford, with degrees in criminal justice, public administration and law as well as training by the FBI National Academy and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, considers the lab failures a plus for him now: "I am able to learn from those and move forward. ... That makes me more prepared to go in and deal with organizational issues such as these."
Defendants whose evidence was mangled as the leaders ultimately responsible for the Crime Lab fiddled, so to speak, will surely be pleased to know there's a silver lining to the mess.
Good for Bernstein for finally getting Bradford to answer some of these important questions. We suspect, given some of these disastrous answers, that we may not see Bradford answering many more press inquiries in the near future.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/08 10:48 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
14 October 2007
Harris County criminal judges to review crime-lab cases identified by Bromwich
At the end of the week, the Chronicle's Roma Khanna and Steve McVicker reported that Harris County criminal district judges plan to review 180 crime-lab cases identified by Michael Bromwich as potentially troubling in his investigation of HPD's Crime Lab:
Days after the release of a man wrongfully convicted on faulty forensics, Harris County criminal district judges are poised to appoint a panel to review 180 cases with problematic Houston crime lab evidence, ending a dispute about how to scrutinize those cases.
Local officials have argued about how best to address those cases since June, when an independent investigator recommended appointing a "special master" to review cases with questionable body fluid testing known as serology from the scandal-plagued Houston Police Department crime lab.
Mayor Bill White, Police Chief Harold Hurtt and top prosecutor Chuck Rosenthal dismissed the need for an outsider for the serology review, saying the cases could be handled within the existing system.
But others, including state legislators and criminal defense attorneys, pressed the need for a consolidated, independent review. Just this week, a man freed after serving 14 years for a rape he did not commit urged the City Council to take action saying, "something must be done."
At a routine administrative meeting Wednesday, Harris County's criminal district judges prepared to take action.
They plan to assign three defense attorneys to determine the importance of crime lab evidence to the 180 convictions and act accordingly. Those three likely will report to retired Judge Mary Bacon. Bacon will conduct teleconferences beginning Oct. 22 with 160 of the defendants in those cases, inform them of the issues with their cases and determine whether the defendants want their cases reviewed.
State District Judge Olen Underwood, the presiding judge over the judicial region that includes Harris County, must approve the project. It will be paid for with county funds.
As the story indicates, Mayor White and Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal had resisted Bromwich's recommendation for the appointment of an independent special master, arguing that existing institutions could best review the cases. We've never thought a second (or third, or fourth) set of independent eyes could actually hurt the case review process, however -- and that it quite likely could help.
In light of the week's events surrounding the release of the unjustly incarcerated Ronald Taylor, we can't view this move by Harris County judges as anything but welcome.
RELATED: Mix-up on DNA deals HPD lab another blow (Mike Tolson & Roma Khanna, Houston Chronicle), Freed man's case was forged by chain of errors (Roma Khanna, Houston Chronicle), Making it right: New panel must quickly attack crime lab's festering injustices (Houston Chronicle).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Bromwich"> 10/14/07 02:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
01 June 2005
Crime lab investigator moves to next phase
KUHF-88.7's Jack Williams reports that yesterday's revelation that the HPD crime lab faked some test results may only be a precursor of more bad news to come later this summer:
The man in charge of investigating the Houston Police Department's Crime Lab says a new phase of his probe later this summer could uncover even more trouble, beyond his early finding that lab workers faked test results.
Independent investigator Michael Bromwich has been on the job for the past eight weeks and says the next phase of his investigation will begin in early July and include more in depth reviews of cases that involved forensic testing.
[snip]
One of the labworkers who was found to have fabricated test results has left the department. The other one still works in the lab under tighter supervision.
Isn't it reassuring to know that a crime-lab worker can fabricate test results that potentially are about life and death, and still remain employed by the City of Houston, no doubt accruing generous pension benefits?
The Brown/Bradford legacy continues to grow.
UPDATE (06-02-2005): The Chronicle runs additional coverage from Steve McVicker.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/01/05 11:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 October 2009
Chron reports on years-long crime-lab backlog; Mayor White is concerned
Way back in April, we commented on Texas Watchdog's announcement they were bringing former Chronsters Steve McVicker (and Rosanna Ruiz) on board as follows:
We're looking forward to learning about more METRO deception and funny numbers, not to mention just how many thousand rape-test-kits are sitting in a (leaky?) closet somewhere still waiting to be analyzed several years after the Bromwich Report on the crime lab.
We haven't seen much Watchdogging Texas from McVicker*, but the Houston Chronicle finally got around to answering our question a couple of days ago:
Seven years after the Houston Police Department crime lab scandal first broke, city officials acknowledged this week that nearly 4,000 rape kits and other crime evidence remain untested for DNA.
According to HPD Crime Lab Director Irma Rios, that untested evidence stored in the property room includes a backlog of 1,048 active cases where police investigators have asked for DNA testing.
We're glad somebody finally decided to answer the question of whether the crime lab has cleared its backlog of cases. And we are glad Mayor Bill White told the Chronicle that he is concerned about the years-long backlog -- obviously it's been a priority for him!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/09 08:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
15 April 2009
Texas Watchdog adds Steve McVicker, Rosanna Ruiz to the fold
On the Texas Watchdog site, Trent Seibert announces the addition of two new reporters to the organization: Steve McVicker and Rosanna Ruiz.
Readers here should be familiar with both. Ruiz most recently provided the Chronicle its most critical coverage of METRO in years, before Jeff Cohen apparently decided to de-emphasize the transit beat (and laid her off). McVicker has worked in a number of local newsrooms, providing notable coverage of HPD's crime lab fiasco for the Chronicle (before getting laid off) and, more recently seeing his book made into a bigtime movie starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor.
These are significant additions for Texas Watchdog, and their five journalists may well make up the second biggest metro desk in the city (especially since, as Rich Connelly and the Houston Press drone ad nauseam, KTRH-740 is *gasp* more about conservative talk than news these days, a possibly lamentable fact but something that stopped being news quite a while ago).
Congrats to Texas Watchdog and to Ruiz and McVicker on what should be an interesting partnership. We're looking forward to learning about more METRO deception and funny numbers, not to mention just how many thousand rape-test-kits are sitting in a (leaky?) closet somewhere still waiting to be analyzed several years after the Bromwich Report on the crime lab.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/15/09 07:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
19 March 2008
At least one area crime lab isn't a fiasco...
KHOU-11's Shern-Min Chow reports on one area crime lab that (unlike HPD's crime lab) isn't making news for all the wrong reasons:
The Harris County crime lab is recognized as one of the top labs in the state.
Mike Sutton ran the FBI’s Houston crime scene unit. Often he sent his evidence to a Houston lab.
“I could take it to them — I was certain I would get it back done right in a timely manner,” the 35-year federal agent said.
Not HPD’s beleaguered crime lab, but one a few miles away you probably don’t even know exists.
Harris County has a combined medical examiner and forensics lab that is the largest in Texas after the Department of Public Safety’s state lab.
“It’s one of the top labs in Texas and perhaps even in the U.S.,” Sutton said.
So what is Harris County doing right? Self-policing, certification and state-of-the-art equipment, kind of like on TV.
Like any successful program, you have to be willing to pay for it. Since 2003, Harris County has upped the budget from $10 million to $18 million dollars, nearly doubling the staff to nearly 200 employees.
Mayor White and other municipal leaders balked at even paying for the Bromwich investigation into the problems at the HPD Crime Lab, so we're not holding our breath for a serious commitment of resources to fix its problems. There are trinkets to be pursued, after all.
A Harris County Lawyer had this amusing reaction to the story:
It's worth noting that in all of the DNA scandals caused by the HPD Lab, that Harris County's Lab never ran into the same problems.
Then again, Clarence Bradford wasn't ever the head of the Harris County Lab.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/19/08 10:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
30 September 2008
HPD asks for another $1.25 million for crime lab
Talk about a money drain. From Chron.com:
The Houston Police Department is asking City Council to approve $1.25 million to hire outside scientists to review all tests done by the recently reopened DNA crime lab.
Limited DNA testing resumed at the crime lab in July, but the department still outsources the majority of tests to a Dallas firm.
The two consultants, Dr. Charlotte J. Word and Dr. Robin W. Cotton, would review every case involving DNA testing and check the processes and conclusions reached by HPD's in-house laboratory, according to Dr. Laura Gahn, the DNA lab's technical director.
The hiring of independent, outside consultants was a recommendation of the multi-year, $5.3 million probe of HPD's troubled crime lab, completed in 2007.
"Now, you have an extra level of oversight from outside, giving the public an extra level of confidence," Gahn said.
Right. An "extra level of confidence." The problem is, HPD's crime lab inspires little confidence, let alone "extra."
So, there goes another million down the drain. You may recall that, back in February, Crime Lab Director Irma Rios was interviewed by KHOU-11's Jeremy Desel, when she said that the those in the crime lab were "being good stewards of the public's money." And then she commented that cost was not a problem, which is evidenced by this multi-year fiasco. The only time money has been a problem was when the city didn't want to continue funding the Bromwich crime lab investigation. Now, after fighting that report, HPD wants to spend a million implementing one of its recommendations.
PREVIOUSLY: Crime Lab archives
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/30/08 05:09 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
16 August 2005
HPD announces more property room discoveries
KHOU-11's Jeremy Desel reports that evidence from a number of capital murder cases has recently been discovered in HPD's property room:
Dozens of boxes of evidence were found in the HPD property room last year during the investigation into problems at the HPD crime lab.
Investigators have been combing over each piece of evidence -- 700,000 so far -- and they recently found evidence linked to the capital murder cases.
The findings may have come too late for one person already executed.
Ponchai Wilkerson was sent to death row for a 1990 murder during a jewelry store robbery. The evidence was a car baby seat. It's relation to the case isn't clear. Wilkerson's attorneys didn't request the evidence during the trial.
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said that at least in the Wilkerson case, the evidence may not have made any impact.
"It appears that it is very tangential. In fact, nonessential to any given matter in Mr. Wilkerson's case, which is good from our standpoint," he said.
[snip]
Evidence also turned up in the 1987 case of Warren Rivers. He lured an 11-year-old boy to his home, sexually assaulted him, mutilated him with a broomstick and stabbed him to death. The evidence found in that case is clothing, a towel and a knife.
The third case of evidence involves Robert Campbell. He kidnapped Alexandra Rendon from a gas station in 1991, raped her, then shot her to death. The evidence is a cigarette butt which defense attorneys had asked for during the appeals process.
The city needs to stop dragging its feet on the next phase of the Bromwich investigation of the HPD crime lab and get it moving forward.
UPDATE (08-17-2005): Steve McVicker and Roma Khanna cover the story for the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/16/05 11:38 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 June 2005
Crime lab analyst who made up results finally resigns
KTRK-13's Ted Oberg reports that the analyst who remained employed by the HPD crime lab after faking test results has finally resigned:
One analyst resigned instead of being fired. The second analyst was reprimanded in writing, suspended for three days and put back in the lab, where today he is suspended, but still collects a paycheck. His 7,660 cases are being reviewed to see if there are other false results.
"The first thing I'd like to see y'all do is get rid of that person," said Houston city councilmember Ada Edwards.
Councilmember Edwards got her wish late Monday afternoon. The analyst left the department.
"Today, Mr. Patel resigned from the Houston Police Department," said Chief Hurtt Monday. "He was neither asked, nor approached by the department in reaching his decision. What we need to concentrate on is what would be good for the Houston Police Department, the citizens of Houston, and our role in the criminal justice system in the future."
The chief knows this won't be easy to get over in the short term, but he and Bromwich both expressed that they hope it recovers in the long run. All of this was discovered during former Police Chief CO Bradford's administration. On Monday, he wouldn't answer any of our questions about it. As for a criminal fraud prosecution of the analyst, it's too late, says DA Chuck Rosenthal. The statute of limitations has expired.
Patel was neither asked nor approached by the department? Why not?
It's not surprising that former Chief Bradford doesn't want to answer questions about the level of ineptitude that permeated the crime lab while he was chief and Lee P. Brown was mayor. Unfortunately, they weren't held to account by local media -- especially the Chronicle editorial board -- even when they were still public officials.
PREVIOUSLY: Report details more problems with HPD crime lab (bH), Crime lab investigator moves to next phase (bH).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/13/05 08:27 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
16 January 2006
Is there any fireable offense at the City of Houston?
A civil-service arbitrator today held that Police Chief Harold Hurtt could not fire an HPD officer who allegedly downloaded and passed around nude photos from the camera phone of a woman he arrested:
A Houston police officer has been reinstated even though authorities said he embarrassed the department by passing along nude pictures of a woman he arrested, KPRC Local 2 reported on Monday.
A civil service arbitrator ordered Officer George Miller reinstated Friday after serving an eight-month suspension without pay.
Miller was fired in May after he and Officer Christopher Green were accused of downloading nude pictures of Yanhong Gang, a drunken driving suspect the officers arrested on Nov. 25, 2004.
After the arrest, authorities said Miller found nude photos on Gang's cell phone. Investigators said Miller then gave the phone and photos to Green, who transferred the pictures to his personal digital assistant.
Miller and Green were suspended indefinitely after Gang complained about the officer's actions.
However, attorney Marc Hill said the punishment for Miller's crime was too severe.
"It was a high-profile case and that is how the city attorney argued it -- 'It's a big embarrassment to us. It's a high-profile case.' But just because somebody looks at it one way doesn't necessarily mean it’s a fireable offense. An arbitrator held it under the law that it's not," Hill told KPRC Local 2.
We know from the Bromwich findings that crime-lab analysts who produced shoddy (even fraudulent) work were reinstated by civil-service bureaucrats. If those shenanigans didn't constitute fireable offenses, then it's hard to see how anything EVER rises to the level of fireable offense at the City of Houston.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Houston Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/06 09:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
16 March 2006
Editorial LiveJournalists praise... Rosenthal?
Yesterday, the Chronicle reported that Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal would honor a request from the Innocence Project to review 45 HPD crime lab cases that an independent investigator deemed troubling:
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Tuesday that he has pledged to cooperate with lawyers who will study 18 cases involving serology tests and 27 involving DNA, all of which an independent investigator identified in January as having "major issues."
Barry Scheck, a founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, and his counterparts in Texas contacted Rosenthal about their desire to review the cases after the January release of the latest report from special investigator Michael Bromwich.
[snip]
Rosenthal said he will not oppose efforts by the Innocence Project to have DNA testing conducted in questionable cases.
He added that he will give lawyers access to his files in the cases and provide a representative from his office to help go through them.
"I told him we'd be glad to do that," Rosenthal said.
We wondered what the response of the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists would be to this news, since they (and Rick Casey) have unfairly smeared Rosenthal in the past. Surprisingly, the Editorial LiveJournalists had praise for Rosenthal today:
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is equally forthright in welcoming Scheck's offer and pledging complete cooperation.
That doesn't make up for past unfair treatment of Rosenthal (on the crime lab issue even!), but it's a start. It also demonstrates that the Editorial LiveJournalists CAN write an editorial based on news that appeared the day before, and seemingly get it right. That isn't always the case. It's worth noting these baby steps.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/16/06 08:19 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
02 July 2005
New York Times, bloggers supplement local crime lab coverage
The New York Times has weighed in with coverage of Michael Bromwich's damning report on the HPD crime lab, and Ralph Blumenthal accurately conveys the report's criticism of management within the crime lab, as well as HPD and city officials, including Lee P. Brown and especially Clarence Bradford (not unlike your humble bloggers here).
Blumenthal apparently was unable to track down Bradford for comment:
A drug chemist who joined the laboratory in 1979, James R. Bolding, was pushed up the ladder under former Police Chief Lee P. Brown, who later became mayor, and his police successor, former chief Clarence O. Bradford, to fill vacancies in serology, despite inadequate training, the report said. It quoted Mr. Bolding as telling investigators he "took books home and did the best he could." Mr. Bolding did not respond to a phone message left with his son at home.And Chief Bradford, it went on, refused to spend a City Council grant to hire more workers because once the money ran out, the department would have to pay them. His phone number has been disconnected.
It seems strange that the Brown/Bradford consulting firm would not have functioning telephones. Perhaps the status of Brown Group International as a Houston minority business enterprise will be enough to gain it business, if past experience is any guide.
The Chronicle's main coverage of the report, in contrast, does not mention Lee Brown. It mentions Bradford's role in reinstating an analyst who was suspected of fabricating test results, but does not mention Bradford's decision not to use grant money to hire needed staff in the crime lab in order to avoid a future commitment by HPD to cover their salaries, or other parts of the report that deal with Bradford's decisionmaking. The authors of the Chronicle coverage were also responsible for what was effectively a hit piece on Chuck Rosenthal that appeared in morning print editions the day Bromwich's report was released.
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey wrote on Bromwich's findings yesterday. While Casey at least acknowledges the decision not to use grant money to hire needed staff, he refers to the decisionmaker as "the police chief." That would be Clarence Bradford, although Chronicle readers who didn't read the New York Times, blogs, or the report itself probably still don't know that the report cites Bradford specifically on the matter. Indeed, Casey mostly avoids naming any names, save one:
Michael Bromwich, the independent investigator hired by the city to investigate the lab after District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal refused to allow a special prosecutor to do so, yesterday issued the surprisingly readable 83-page report. (You can find a link to it at www.chron.com.)
For good measure, there's also this:
It could be a serialized TV drama — not L.A. Law but Houston Lab.
It couldn't miss being a hit, combining the intensity of a cop show, the idealism of science and the unfolding morality play of how the District Attorney's Office handles thorny issues.
We have previously commented on Rosenthal's position on the crime lab, but it's worth noting again in light of Casey's editorializing:
I followed up with Rosenthal, who explained that he actually had called for a Blue Ribbon Review panel to review the crime lab (which Judge Robert Eckels supported but then-Mayor Lee Brown opposed), and that he later wrote to then-police chief Joe Brashears urging a review of the entire crime lab. He admits that he has refused to recuse himself "unless there was evidence that any of my staff was involved in wrongdoing" and contends he's just doing the job he was elected to do. He has also opposed a "Cleveland plan" style review, contending that it is not appropriate to Houston's circumstance. Those last two points are certainly fair game for honest debate, but to characterize Rosenthal's position as outright opposition to an independent review is not honest.
Since Casey's editorial column and the Chronicle's straight news coverage of the Bromwich findings both misrepresent and underreport (respectively) the efforts of the Harris County District Attorney's office to deal with the crime lab fiasco, perhaps it is useful to turn to the Bromwich report itself for directly related information:
In early 2003, the District Attorney’s Office and HPD began a process with the goal of re-testing all cases resulted in a conviction -- whether at trial or through a guilty plea -- in which DNA evidence analyzed by the Crime Lab may have played a role. The central purpose of the re-testing program has been to identify any cases in which the results of DNA analysis performed by the Crime Lab cannot be confirmed.
[snip]
Ultimately, the District Attorney’s Office identified 407 cases to be re-tested. Four of these 407 cases identified for re-testing have subsequently been withdrawn from the re-test list because the District Attorney’s Office determined that they did not belong on the list, leaving 403 cases to be analyzed.
HPD has been responsible for sending the DNA evidence related to the 403 post-conviction re-test cases to one of the following three outside laboratories for re-testing: Identigene in Houston, Reliagene in New Orleans, and Orchid-Cellmark in Dallas. HPD reports that, as of June 13, 2005, re-testing has been completed on 333 of the 403 cases.
For obvious reasons, the optimal evidence for re-testing purposes is raw evidence, such as stains on clothing or bedding, that have not been processed by the Crime Lab. In cases where such raw evidence does not exist, the next best alternative is to test DNA that already has been extracted or already has undergone some form of processing. The bulk of the cases reviewed -- 248 -- have confirmed with raw evidence the original Crime Lab findings. Seventy-five cases have confirmed the Crime Lab’s findings with DNA extracted or processed evidence. In one case, there apparently was no remaining sample to be re-tested and only the Crime Lab’s case file was available for review. The results in eight cases have been confirmed by outside laboratories, but with significant differences in the statistics reported by the outside laboratories from those originally reported by the Crime Lab. In one case, involving Josiah Sutton, the Crime Lab’s findings were reversed by the outside laboratory.
Finally, the District Attorney’s Office has retained its own outside laboratory, Bode Technology Group of Springfield, Virginia, to review the analyses performed by the three laboratories originally involved with the post-conviction re-testing project. The Assistant District Attorney coordinating the re-testing for the prosecutor’s office told us that the purpose of Bode’s involvement is to serve as a second check on the cases and to assist the District Attorney’s Office in reviewing the reports generated by the outside laboratories involved in the re-testing program. (Pages 51-53)
People who rely only on the print editions of the Chronicle for their local news might have a very different impression of the efforts of Rosenthal and his staff to deal with the fallout of the HPD crime lab fiasco. They got to read a hit piece on Rosenthal that appeared in morning print editions the same day the Bromwich report critical of the Houston political leaders and HPD (but not Rosenthal) was released. The next day, they got to read news coverage of the Bromwich report by the same authors, who underreported the efforts of the District Attorney's office to retest cases and neglected to report some criticism of Chief Bradford in the report. And they got to read a Rick Casey editorial column on the metro/state news pages that was not entirely forthcoming in attacking Rosenthal by name, while declining to name any HPD or city officials criticized in the report.
Readers certainly can't be blamed for wondering if an anti-Rosenthal or pro-Brown/Bradford editorial bias is creeping onto the metro/state news pages, even though we've been assured that the editors of the newspaper fret over maintaining "division between the opinion pages and the news pages."
Here are additional thoughts from area bloggers:
Yee-haw, Saniflush!Pathetic.
Still, Lee P. Brown got a building named after him -- the Lee P. Brown METRO Administration Building at 1900 Main Street. Yeah, METRO.
To our knowledge, there are no plans to name any public buildings after Clarence "No Phone" Bradford.
The hefty pension that Lee Brown helped him secure is enough of a monument.
What I am saying is that [Brown and Bradford] didn't inherit a topnotch unit to begin with, and that if there's anything to be gained by pointing a finger at people who are no longer in a position of responsibility, then we ought not to be shy about pointing it at everyone who deserves it.
Their absence of leadership deserves plenty of criticism, but all bloggers should feel free to point away to other examples. Send this post your trackbacks.
Mayor Brown's legacy continues to grow sour as more and more details about the HPD crime lab come to the front in the Bromwich report....
See also his thoughts on the Casey column.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/02/05 08:47 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
09 February 2008
Local media expose dismal state of HPD's leadership
In one fell swoop yesterday, three local media stories demonstrated the woeful state of Chief Hurtt's leadership at HPD.
First, KHOU-11's Vicente Arenas reported on HPD's efforts to attract quality cadet recruits, especially critical now with the department's severe manpower shortage. Unfortunately, it's not going so well, even after HPD lowered "tweaked" standards:
Starting pay for cadets is about $30,000 dollars a year.
Many people have applied for jobs as police officers, 300 last Fall alone. But only 11 got the job at a time when about 1,000 officers are needed to fill HPD’s ranks.
HPD said, despite the shortage of officers, it would not lower its standards to get new cops on the streets.
But 11 News has learned some of the academy's physical requirements have changed. Cadets are not required to do as many pushups and they no longer have to climb walls.
HPD says it only "tweaked" the requirements and they still meet national guidelines. Still Ramos worries the academy's standards may not be strict enough.
And six cadets have been let go recently due to criminal activity.
Next, KHOU's Jeremy Desel snagged an interview with HPD Crime Lab Director Irma Rios, who said that while times are tough, and morale is low, the department really is a good steward of the public's money:
The Bromwich Report into the old lab’s troubles cost the city $5.1 million.
The new lab has received $3.4 million in grants for DNA testing, instruments, training and consultants.
The budget for the crime lab doubled.
All told, more than $10 million was spent to get the new DNA lab up and running.
Still, the lab is not testing all the cases that come to HPD.
"They estimate there are over 2,000 unsolved murders,” said Rios. “Can we do that? We can't. We are building up the lab.”
Breaking down the spending a little further 11 News discovered that in 2005, while the DNA section of the lab was closed, the city spent $725,704 on testing at three outside labs.
In 2006, the lab reopened in July. As you might expect the spending dropped considerably to $258,597.
But last year, with the new lab up and running, the city still spent $336,230.24 on outside testing. And so far this year, even before the lab shut down again, the city had spent $205,446.04.
[snip]
So, despite spending millions, it’s back to the beginning at HPD.
"Going forward I can tell you that we are being good stewards of the public's money,” said Rios. “And that we want that the work that is issued or reports that are issued are the best.
What KHOU's transcript doesn't include is what Rios said right after that sentence (it's on the video): "and that cost not be an objective on that." Even if the end product doesn't match those high standards, Ms. Rios? You'll recall cost was an objective when it came to the Bromwich investigation, with city officials initially balking at the rising cost of sorting out the crime lab's mess.
And then get a load of this: KTRK-13's Gene Apodaca reports that Chief Hurtt thinks HPD needs a new place to call home...and it's going to cost at least a quarter of a billion dollars. Hang on to your wallet for this one:
The plan consolidates several HPD buildings, including those on Travis and Reisner. And it replaces the troubled crime lab and property room. We've been telling you about problems there for months.
It's an expensive plan, $250 million. But the city has been working on this project since last March and they're hoping to complete the new facility as early as 2011 with a $250 million price tag.
[snip]
Under the current proposal, five existing HPD buildings would be sold -- 1200 Travis, which houses administration and investigations, three facilities on Reisner, which house the city jail, central patrol, and transportation, along with 33 Artesia, which houses maintenance and communication.
The city is hoping to make more than $70 million on sale. The general services department would have to come up with the rest.
"Not only is it a nice place to work, it's a place where we can be more effective and efficient in providing services," said Chief Hurtt.
[snip]
Among the benefits, the chief says, would be a new crime lab and property room, replacing the troubled ones HPD currently has.
"The crime lab is going to be in there," said Chief Hurtt. "We're going to be able to have a top notch crime lab center."
Wow. So the soccer stadium and the new convention center hotel aren't the only big budget projects the city's been working on below the radar.
Here's a question for Chief Hurtt: Since HPD's leadership hasn't been a good steward of the public's money for quite a while now (spending money on all the latest techno gadgetry, while not maintaining facilities, ignoring manpower issues until it was too late, not budgeting for a $150 million digital emergency radio system that is long overdue, and throwing money away on a second incarnation of the crime lab), how is this going to be any different?
They may not have enough police officers, their radio network may be out of date, and their crime lab findings may be unreliable, but boy, HPD officials will have mighty fine digs to call home. Image, baby.
RELATED NEWS: 2 shot outside Reliant Stadium after U.S.-Mexico match (Chron.com); HPD: Businessman killed burglar in self-defense (Chron.com); Girl's unfinished oatmeal leads to school bus shooting (KHOU-11)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/09/08 04:30 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
01 June 2005
Report details more problems with HPD crime lab
The Chronicle's Roma Khanna and Steve McVicker report on the latest damning revelations about the HPD crime lab:
Houston Police Department crime lab analysts fabricated findings in at least four drug cases, an independent investigator reported Tuesday, including one in which a scientist performed no tests before issuing conclusions that supported a police officer's suspicions.
[snip]
The report, released Tuesday, also casts doubt, for the first time, on the laboratory's largest division, controlled substances, which tests substances suspected of being drugs and performs about 75 percent of HPD's forensics work. The latest problems bring to five the number of crime lab disciplines where errors have been exposed — including DNA, toxicology, ballistics and the blood-typing science of serology.
" 'Drylabbing' is the most egregious form of scientific misconduct that can occur in a forensic laboratory," Michael Bromwich, a former U.S. Justice Department official leading an investigation of the HPD lab, wrote in the report.
"In the crime lab, the instances of drylabbing took the form of controlled substances analysts creating false documentation intended to reflect analytical procedures that were never performed."
Investigators reported finding four instances between 1998 and 2000 in which two analysts, whom they do not name, issued findings for tests they never conducted.
In each case, the analysts' supervisors caught the misrepresentations before the evidence could be introduced in court.
The supervisory structure of the crime lab is criticized in the report:
The report cited the absence of strong leadership and quality-control procedures as major reasons for DNA lab problems. Analysts in the crime lab complained to then-Police Chief C.O. Bradford about the lack of supervision as early as 1999, according to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle in June 2003.
The legacy of Lee P. Brown and Clarence Bradford just keeps growing.
RELATED COVERAGE: Associated Press.
UPDATE (06-01-2005): KHOU-11 helpfully posts pdf files of the actual report. Additional documentation is located at the official investigator's site.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/01/05 06:28 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
18 August 2005
Fleck knocks down Chron "firewall" between news/editorial
Back on August 4, we noted the delay in the Bromwich investigation of the HPD crime lab, and wrote,
The Chronicle editorial board is really going to have to stretch to blame this on Harris Country District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.
A full two weeks later, the Chronicle editorial board finally got around to commenting on the matter, with a clumsy rhetorical effort that goes pretty easy on Chron "good guy" Bill White while taking shots at Chron "bad guy" Chuck Rosenthal:
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal says he is willing to allocate money from one of several discretionary funds at his disposal to pay a portion of the crime lab probe costs. "I'm a resident of the city of Houston and I don't want the money coming out of HPD's budget," Rosenthal said.
He also says he wants to resolve the crime lab issue quickly because he doesn't feel it's as serious as has been reported. The Chronicle believes the scandal, with its faked or botched lab tests, inaccurate testimony and mishandled evidence pertaining to thousands of cases, some of them capital murder convictions obtained by Harris County prosecutors, is deadly serious.
The scandal IS serious, but until the investigation is complete, we will not know definitively if the crime lab's problems significantly affected the delivery of justice in Harris County.
Today's related "news" story by the Chronicle's Steve McVicker contains an assertion from a defense attorney that Chuck Rosenthal's motives in helping to get the crime lab investigation moving are suspect:
Although he would not say how much money he is offering, Rosenthal said Wednesday that he has contacted city officials about the possibility of using discretionary funds — such as drug-seizure money — to help underwrite the HPD probe.
Rosenthal acknowledged that he has a "selfish" motive for wanting to get the crime-lab investigation back on track: "I'd like to see it done just to get a resolution to this because I don't feel like there's been the immediacy or the problem that's been painted by y'all and the other media as to how bad things are."
To Houston defense lawyer Troy McKinney, Rosenthal's remarks are indicative of the overall crime-lab problem.
"They continue to take the attitude that any problems are isolated, and only anecdotal, even though there is a tremendous quantity of evidence that the problems are pervasive and continue," McKinney said.
If the crime lab's problems "are pervasive and continue," then how in the world has the crime lab under the current leadership managed to gain accreditation in all areas but DNA testing?
In reality, the excerpt we've cited seems intended as a shot at Chuck Rosenthal -- and it doesn't seem fair or accurate in light of the crime lab's recent accreditation. The defense attorney's assertions NEVER should have made it into a credible "news" story without the reporter at least pointing out the crime lab's accreditation (which would go a long way toward refuting the quote, which leads us back to the notion that the quote NEVER should have appeared in a credible "news" story).
But therein lies the problem. Sedosi Alhambra noticed this curious credit at the bottom of the "news" story:
Chronicle staffer Tim Fleck contributed to this report.
Tim Fleck is not just any "Chronicle staffer." Tim Fleck is a member of the Chronicle editorial board!
So, not only did the Chronicle run an editorial today that took a cheap shot at Chuck Rosenthal, it also ran a "news" story in which it used a suspect quote from a defense attorney to take a cheap shot at Chuck Rosenthal, a "news" story to which an editorial board member contributed!
So much for that "division between the opinion pages and the news pages" that one Chronicle editor/blogger once pointed out to us.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/05 11:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
19 October 2008
AgendaWatch: Tuesday 10/21/08
Is it just me, or have the last month's-worth of agendas had more interesting material than the rest of the year combined? Is it something in the air? Or is it that everyone's overdosed on the political campaigns, and tuning out the news? That would make it a good time to pass a bunch of ordinances, wouldn't it?
So here we go for this week. Note especially items #15, 24, 31, 39, and 41:
Item #2: $120,000 for outside litigation support. The City of Houston wants AT&T to move some facilities that are in the city right-of-way, at their expense, to permit flood control improvements. AT&T wants the city to pay. They’ve been arguing in various courts for two years now; AT&T lost in federal court, is still pending in state district court, and is now trying Harris County Civil Court.
Item #3: Proposal to pay a citizen a $165,000 settlement for a negligent city employee who ran a red light in his street sweeper, and hit a pedestrian downtown. Apparently he was not caught in doing this by a red light camera.
Item #5: Appoint two independent appraisers to evaluate 19 acres located at Lockwood and Buffalo Bayou for sale. It used to be a sewage treatment plant. I hope the buyers realize that the city didn’t take up the shallow concrete pits and metal pipes, but merely buried them under a few feet of dirt. Therefore, any foundation work for a building is going to be even more problematic than normal for something on the banks of the bayou.
Item #15: Now that we’ve approved purchase of a new police radio system, we need somewhere to put all the people responsible for installing it – both city and contract personnel. The location will be 2550 North Loop West, the term, five years, the cost $773,182. Five years to install new police radios seems a bit long. The option for a five-year renewal is downright disturbing.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 10/19/08 07:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
05 February 2007
City of Houston Agenda 2-6-07
Readers might remember that for a few months, I summarized the City of Houston agendas, first on Houblog, and later, here on blogHOUSTON. However, work commitments and the fact that it took me upwards of six hours to craft those posts led to my abandoning the effort. It's past time I picked the task back up, though I'm not going to go so overboard this time. I will no longer attempt to post explanations or comments about each and every item on the agenda; instead I will select the items I think are most noteworthy and bring them to readers' attention each week. This will make the articles much shorter and easier to get through as well, perhaps inviting more comment.
The drawback is that the original style allowed the reader to decide what was important; now it's up to my judgment. I invite readers to bring any overlooked agenda item to my attention in the comments if they believe it is important; I'll endeavor to update the article prior to the meeting if I have any input to add.
Once again, readers are cautioned that I delete what I judge to be extraneous text, and often paraphrase in order to make the legalese a lot more readable. Such deletions may accidentally result in a key omission; if you wish to read the original text, please follow ths link to the currently posted agenda. Note that I use the full "backup"; the agenda with the actual Requests for Council Action appended. These are often quite illuminating, but are not available online to the public prior to council meetings.
It's a long agenda this week, and I've cherry-picked some really good items for you. Head below the fold and check it out.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 02/05/07 09:53 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
30 June 2005
Bromwich releases damning Phase I report on HPD crime lab
Michael Bromwich, the independent investigator charged with analyzing problems at the HPD crime lab and property room, issued a damning final report (pdf) of Phase I of his investigation today.
The report is highly critical of leadership with regard to the HPD crime lab dating back more than a decade, citing leadership problems within the lab itself as well as HPD.
Having read the seven-page Executive Summary and the 68-page report itself, I have to recommend that interested parties at least read the Executive Summary (but preferably read the entire report at some point). Bromwich and his crew bring impressive credentials to the task, and the written report reflects work that seems to be extremely well-documented, organized, meticulous, and extensive. Because the report is lengthy and complex, I would suggest that media accounts (or blog posts) are no substitute for reading the report itself.
That said, KHOU-11's Doug Miller gives a good, brief summary. KHOU is cited in the report for its previous reporting on the crime lab.
Former Chief Bradford makes a number of appearances that don't exactly reflect well on his leadership, and even former Chief Lee P. Brown makes an appearance (yes, the problems date back that far). The report also documents the extensive efforts of the office of the Harris County District Attorney to analyze all cases where the HPD crime lab's treatment of evidence might have affected cases. Phase II of Bromwich's investigation will also analyze a sampling of such cases.
I plan on updating this post at some point with interesting excerpts from the report, but I don't have an easy way of converting the PDF file to text at the moment, so that will have to wait.
Incidentally, it is worth noting the Houston Chronicle's hit piece on Harris County District Attorney and Chronicle editorial board "bad guy" Chuck Rosenthal today. However much certain people at 801 Texas Avenue seem to dislike the Harris County District Attorney, the fact remains that Bromwich's report is highly critical of HPD and City of Houston leadership with regard to the crime lab, not Rosenthal or the Harris County District Attorney's office. The timing of the hit piece on Rosenthal is curious, since that's what Chronicle readers got to see this morning before Bromwich's highly critical report on the crime lab took over the news cycle later in the day, not-so-subtly connecting Rosenthal to a crime lab fiasco that Bromwich's report clearly identifies as an HPD/City of Houston fiasco.
That's another reason why there is no substitute for reading those reports, and why the technology that makes them available to anyone with an internet connection changes everything about media.
UPDATE (07-01-2005): Selected excerpts from the report follow below. In all instances, the excerpts have come from the main report (not the executive summary). The page(s) are identified above. Some footnotes have been omitted.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Bromwich releases damning Phase I report on HPD crime lab"> 06/30/05 10:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
21 August 2006
City of Houston Agenda 8-22-06
Curiously, this week's Requests for Council Authorization and backup to the Agenda were ready and posted before the Agenda itself. Normally, I copy the Council Agenda from the city's website, and then add notes from the backup. The .pdf file that includes the RCAs and other information includes a copy of the Agenda. This time, for whatever reason, the agenda was not posted online (as of Sunday), nor is a a copy available in the backup, although the backup itself is available. Since the backup is often missing certain items, this means that for now, the public has no easily available record of what Agenda items 24, 29, 49, 51, and 52 are. Nor do I, even though I have access to the city's intranet. I can only hope that the Agenda is posted prior to Tuesday's meeting, and I can update this article.
Readers' attention is directed especially to items 5 (oopsie!), 46 (what loan?), and 62 (we have always been at war with Oceania) of the agenda. In particular, item 62 is one of the most reprehensible pieces of Orwellian doublethink from any recent administration, and I am just suspicious enough to wonder if it is the real reason the agenda was not online at the usual time. If you read nothing else of the agenda, read that one.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 08/21/06 01:03 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
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