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Fri: Comings and Goings
posted at 2010-03-05 20:55 | Last modified 2010-03-05 20:55
Big news of the day: NC Attorney General Roy Cooper announced this afternoon he’s named two former FBI experts to conduct an external review of the SBI’s State Crime Lab methods and disclosure practices from the 1990s till now. From the release:
...Cooper asked Chris Swecker and Mike Wolf, both former Assistant Directors with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to head up the review. They will examine the state lab’s historic practice and policy on disclosure of lab analyses as well as its internal methods and reporting of scientific analysis.
Swecker is a practicing attorney and North Carolina native. He is the former FBI Special Agent in Charge for North Carolina and later served as executive assistant director in charge of nine FBI divisions, including the science and forensic lab division.
Wolf has a Masters degree in forensic science and previously served as FBI Special Agent in Charge for Connecticut and as assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group. Wolf led an inspection team brought in to fix problems at the FBI crime lab in 1998-1999.
The review will run concurrently with the State Bureau of Investigation’s internal review of current practices and policies at the crime lab. Today, analysts’ lab reports and bench notes are electronically available to prosecutors to be shared with defense attorneys through the discovery process. Bureau officials are in discussions with state prosecutors to ensure that they are accessing the information needed in criminal cases.
Reached by phone today, Cooper said it’ll be up to Swecker and Wolf to determine the scope of the review, but he’s asking that it be comprehensive – not just a records audit, which would be a pretty big job on its own (records from that time are still on paper), but also talking to lab workers and agents then and now, plus defense attorneys and DAs.
"It's important because of the integrity it will bring to the process, and we need public confidence in the working of the SBI crime lab... I want them to do a very extensive and comprehensive review of all of the policies, and if there are AN Y deficiencies, I want to make sure they are fixed. "
Cooper doesn’t know how long the investigation will take. But he promises the results of the investigation will be made public:
“We will have a report to the public on the findings and conclusions and recommendations.”
The Right Guys?
Both Swecker and Wolf have impressive resumes. Swecker worked on the Jack Abramoff case before he retired from the FBI in 2006, going on to serve as global security chief for Bank of America. Wolf was Special Agent in Charge of the Connecticut FBI, overhauling the FBI’s crime lab in 1998 and investigating the anthrax mailings case from 2001.
NC Center on Actual Innocence Director Christine Mumma had called for an independent investigation of the lab by a panel of stakeholders. Via email, Mumma said bringing in the FBI was a good starting move, “but the defense bar will want access to the review approach…to be confident in the results.”
RIP, Dan Pollitt
Noted civil rights lawyer and activist Dan Pollitt passed away this morning. He was 88. The Carrboro Citizen had the story first, along with a nice retrospective on his groundbreaking career from last August, when he received the Order of the Longleaf Pine from Gov. Bev Perdue.
Pollitt married State Senator Ellie Kinnaird (D-Orange) last April. They were very possibly the cutest couple in NC politics, and very much in love. Deepest sympathies tonight to Senator Kinnaird.
Steele in town
RNC Chairman Michael Steele will visit Greensboro Monday to roll out a new ad campaign aimed at boosting party fundraising. I’ve already got a full schedule Monday, but this may be too tempting to resist – especially since the GOP now apparently considers Greensboro a “heavily GOP market,” which makes you wonder whether anyone bothered to check the ‘08 numbers first. Mark Binker has a lot more detail on the visit here.
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