Drugs. DNA. Gunshot residue. Our Tampa Drug Attorneys have dealt with cases involving them all. The government often charges people with crimes because of laboratory reports that associate positive results with a suspect. And once a suspect is arrested, these lab results will be introduced against that person at trial. Unfortunately, popular crimes shows like CSI have lulled most people into believing that lab reports are always correct. A criminal defense attorney with experience attacking laboratory reports and their results can often suppress the reports and preclude their admission into evidence at trial, or show faults in either the testing procedures or potential misconduct on the part of lab technicians that can significantly call into question the credibility of the results.
The Tampa Drug Attorneys of Hackworth Law, P.A. has extensive experience analyzing and attacking laboratory reports and their results. Generally, the process begins at the crime scene where law enforcement will collect evidence such as drugs or drug residue, gunshot or explosive residue, DNA, hair follicles, etc. This collected evidence is called a specimen, and is preserved at the scene of the crime, packaged and then transported to a laboratory for testing.
Through each step of the process, the government must maintain a detailed record, or chain of custody, of each person who has come into contact with the specimen and what actions they took with the specimen. A defense attorney should demand to inspect and examine the chain of custody documents in any case involving laboratory analysis to determine if the chain of custody was broken resulting in a physical mishap with the specimen, or alternatively, examine people that handled the specimen to determine if they could have the propensity to engage in misconduct that could reduce the credibility of the results. For stories about fraud and mistakes in laboratories, we provided a few links in different states, Florida, Massachusetts and West Virginia. A criminal defense attorney should even go to the extent of demanding the personnel files of the laboratory technicians for past instances where they have made mistakes, intentionally tampered with the results, or engaged in other misconduct. Even something as simple as a lab technician lying on their employment application could call into question their integrity and reduce their credibility—and thereby reduce the credibility of their work product, the positive results.
If you have are under investigation, or have been charged with a crime involving lab results for DNA, drugs, gunshot residue, explosives, etc., contact the Tampa Drug Attorneys of Hackworth Law, P.A. so that they may use their experience to attack the laboratory results. We appreciate your time checking out our blog and we look forward to hearing from you.