Don’t forget to Register for the Conference coming up in 2014!! The Property Times Helping Improve the Industry Since 1997

Bullet Discharges in Downtown Court- house Evidence Room

An accidental bullet discharge Friday morning in the evidence room in the basement at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center has injured a county deputy.

The incident occurred about 11:20 a.m. at 1201 Franklin.

Authorities said a deputy was handling an evidence bag when she dropped it on the floor. A bullet in the bag was somehow discharged, injuring the deputy.

Her injury is not serious, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

PLEASE be careful when you are handling weapons and ammunition Allen PD received a $500 grant at the 2013 as evidence. It only takes one mistake for a tragedy to happen! conference to purchase a storage cabinet for flammable items in their property room.

The Property Times 1 The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

Aborporro est Deputy Connie Welcome to the New Year from EFF to Texas High Court: A Cell Phoneaut aut atis Isn’t quiscia Jordan named President Szendrey! a Pair of Pants pro inimos que di dus conecuptas as Property Room Welcome to a new year! I hope everyone Board Member or Officer if you have any “Is a cell hone really a pair of trousers?” filed an amicus brief along with EFF-Austin, examination”max of an electronic device. Part of had a good holiday season. It seems like suggestions or ideas. We really do value the Texas Civil Rights Project and the ACLU the court’s justification was that although Person of the Year just a short amount of time since we your input. That’s the question posed in a Texas case of Texas urging the high court to affirm the the amountFacidunt of accum items adigna person feugue can carry molore in had our 2013 conference but it’s been 3 dealing with whether the police need a decision of the two courts before it that physicaldoloborer luggage sit is verit necessarily la faccumsan limited, volor the months and we’re into the new year. If I’d also like to remind you to keep in mind warrant to search the contents of a cell found the government’s warrantless search samesumsan isn’t true hendrer with electronic alit venim devices. zzrit ilit A ea you’ve made resolutions I hope you’re still that we are accepting applications for phone sitting in a jail’s property room. In a violated the Fourth Amendment. broadat. electronic Dolor si. search policy would be the keeping them and keep at them until you Technician of the Year, Grant Fund, and new amicus brief we filed in the Texas Court equivalent of searching luggage for “not are successful. Scholarships. If you, or someone you know, of Criminal Appeals, we explain police need In our amicus brief we explain the only Nawhat facip the essequat bag contained ad tat irilison the aut current alisim want to apply for a grant or a scholarship a warrant before searching an arrested government had no excuse for not trip, butincil everything ulla feuis ad it hader sit ever lore carried.” te tet ullan One thing I neglected to mention during the applications can be found on the person’s cell phone. obtaining a warrant before searching eui blam, volessenim delis num ad the last conference was the fact that I TAPEIT website (www.tapeit.net). You can Granville’s phone. A person doesn’t The appellateduipsum court’svelisit, consequat,obvious conclusion vullaorper changed employers. This happened two also find the application for Technician of Teenager Anthony Granville was arrested surrender their expectation of privacy in that “asusci cell blam, phone sit is nulla not a conummy pair of pants” nullupt weeks before the conference so I hadn’t the Year on the website. Print it out; get at his high school for a misdemeanor the contents of their phone once the phone followsatummoluptat this correct line dio ofconse thinking dolummo and even had a chance to get my feet wet it to your supervisor. Many supervisors and booked into the county jail. All of is in the hands of jail officials. Plus none makesloborpe clear that riusci our te privacy faccum rights dion henimdon’t at the new job. After 18 years with the don’t even know the Technician of the Year his belongings, including his cell phone, of the exceptions to the search warrant becomeadipit, eviscerated vulputate simply do diat because alisisi. M Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, an award exists and the only way they’ll have were taken from him and placed in the requirement applied. This wasn’t a search invasive searches not contemplated 30 opportunity to work with the Georgetown to find out is if you bring the application to jail’s property room while he was locked “incident to arrest” since it took place hours yearsagna ago canfeugait, now vendiat happen irit, with quam just zzriustoa few Police Department became available. I their attention. up. Three hours after his arrest, a different after Granville was arrested, when the taps onod adignis screen. ea facidunt lorem acidunt was fortunate enough to be hired and am officer than the one who arrested Granville phone was out of his control. And it wasn’t nullam dolendre te conullan heniam now well into the daily routine of my new In closing, I look forward to serving you, at the high school went into the property an “inventory search” because once the Specialvolore thanks volobor to Amy sUstrud Eikel ofdolummodit King & lan work place. I’m loving the challenges and the members, as the President of your room and, without a search warrant, looked phone itself was inventoried and secured by Spaldingvendio LLP etue in Houston, tis nim zzrit Texas veniam, for writing quam the new experiences that come with my association. I have the support, wisdom, through Granville’s phone in search of the police, there was no need to inventory our brief.velent am, vullan ea facinit alit inci essi. Deputy Connie Jordan of the Jasper new employer and I’m still able to do the and guidance of the wonderful people evidence connected to another, unrelated the data on the phone. Plus, a inventory County Sheriff’s Department has been evidence function, which is a job I truly who are your Board of Directors and misdemeanor felony. search can’t be used as a pretext for a clearly ORIGINALLYUt lobore PUBLISHED feuipsu scilisi BY EFF bla -consequam named the Property Room Person of the love. Officers. Without their hard work all year investigatory search, which this certainly ELECTRONICalit ip et FRONTIERip et wisit velFOUNDATION ute ea facillan ON Year by the Texas Association of Property long all of the accomplishments made The trial court suppressed the evidence was. APRILvelit, 2, 2013 quisl BY incipsum HANNI FAKHOURY vulla feugait, conse & Evidence Inventory Technicians. At first I was a little anxious about starting wouldn’t happen. And I know I speak for taken from the phone, finding the officer ver inciliquipit alismolent atie miniat a new job with all the unknowns that come all of the Board when I say that we don’t had plenty of time and opportunity to Trying to pigeonhole the search of a cell nim zzrit eugait, commy nonulputem The award came during their Annual with it. But it’s working out and I’m finding do what we do for ourselves, but do it for obtain a search warrant and no exigent phone into legal precedent addressing velit la faci tat nit ullum acidunt atie Conference in Austin on Wednesday. out my anxieties were unfounded. We can you, our members. After all, the members circumstance justified the search. The state something quite different only highlights modionulla facin ulpute dolutpat. Luscil Jordan worked several years at the all benefit from facing, and overcoming, are the most important part of TAPEIT. Stay appealed to the Texas Court of Appeals, the need to have the law account for ulla feuiscinibh el ipis nullum zzril. Jasper Police Department, and among new challenges. Don’t look at them as an Safe! arguing that Granville had no expectation technological changes. As Professor Orin Utpat, sustrud modit wis dolorpe those in attendance at the event to see insurmountable obstacle, but rather as a Paul Szendrey ([email protected]) of privacy in the contents of his cell phone Kerr observed recently, “thanks to changing rcillaor iriurero dolor adipsum nulla her win the award was Jasper Police chance to grow and learn. Often times with while it was in the jailhouse, noting that technology and its widespread adoption, consenisl iliquis acil ullutpatue dolenia Captain Gerald Hall and Lieutenant Mike our job duties we have new challenges looking through the phone was no different searching a person meant one thing in mconum ipit aut ing eraestisisi blam Poindexter, along with former Chief come our way. Take time to analyze the than looking at a person’s clothes when 1973 and means something quite different ver sumsandre facing exeraesequi tat. Harlan Alexander, who Jordan worked for situation, make a plan of action, and tackle they are booked into jail. The appellate today.” Courts are slowly recognizing this. Tissecte dunt eros doluptat, velit briefly when he recently returned to lead the job at hand. That’s how we grow and court disagreed with the government’s In United States v. Cotterman, the Ninth praesti onsendio dolent iril do od the department in an interim capacity. learn and mature in our careers. analogy, finding the amount of information Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that euis nim dolor se tet alis num at. El Also at the conference is her current boss, stored on mobile devices make a cell phone given the amount of information stored eugue dunt lan eliquatem velenissi Sheriff Mitchel Newman. For all of you reading this that attended search far more invasive than a search of on electronic devices, border agents must blan ex esequisim zzrilisi et, quatis do the 2013 conference I’d like to thank clothing. Now the case is in front of the have a reasonable suspicion of criminal odolobor alis num ad min ute faccum On her Facebook page, Deputy Jordan you for attending. Seeing all of you in Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and we’ve activity before engaging in a “forensic do odolummy nonsed essed dolesse said “I was so honored that all of them the classes and during the social night consequam veros ad magnim in came for me all the way to Austin! Feeling really means a lot to your Board Members henissim el utat. Ut at luptat, sequiss on top of the world right now!” and Officers. We work throughout the “Hold yourself responsible for a higher standardequipit thanutpat. Ut luptat.any - year between conferences to make the (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY KJAS NEWS) conference topics relevant to your jobs Uscillaore dolobor iustie ming exero and a value for you and your agencies. The body expects of you. Never excuse yourself.” odolore ming et ut in henit lute. ideas and feedback we get from you help us to continually improve our conferences - Henry Ward Beecher so that they stay fresh and educational 2 The Property Times for you. Please feel free to contact any 3 Newsletter Title The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

Across Texas, municipal police departments felony case. $1.1 million. and sheriff’s offices are the primary Where’s Your Evidence? repositories for all kinds of items – from a The new law “creates opportunities to solve State lawmakers have done much to beef bloody shirt collected by detectives in a many cases,” notes Belton Police Chief Ellis, up evidence retention requirements – but For more than a decade, lawyers for no one’s ever been able to find that thing,” managers are often poorly paid and receive murder investigation to marijuana grow- but it also raises questions. For example, they’ve done very little to ensure that the death row inmate Hank Skinner fought he said. Skinner remains on death row as very little training, if any, on how to do their lights, plants, and cash seized in a narcotics should a letter that likely has a person’s DNA laws are followed with any consistency. For prosecutors – in Gray County and the DNA testing on other items of evidence jobs, says Vasquez. That’s a combination raid; from a wallet found on the sidewalk on it be kept as evidence in connection with example, they haven’t provided financial attorney general’s office – for the right to continues. that can quickly lead to scandal for a police to the personal belongings of county jail a felony fraud case? he asks. “If you follow assistance to train evidence technicians or DNA-test certain items of evidence. Skinner department working within a criminal inmates; from vials of blood extracted from the letter of the law, you’re going to need to to provide for proper long-term storage. was convicted and sentenced to die for the Skinner’s case is not unusual. Unfor­tun­ately, justice system that increasingly relies on drunken driving suspects to sexual assault retain that.” The 2011 law also directed a group of 1993 murder of his girlfriend Twila Busby missing evidence is “way more common science to make evidence meaningful. examination kits collected from alleged stakeholders to develop best practices and her two grown sons in the home they than you’d think,” says evidence expert John rape victims. Each item must be maintained Lawmakers and law enforcers are trying for collection, retention, and retrieval of shared in the Panhandle town of Pampa. Vasquez. Vasquez worked in property and As forensic science evolves and DNA testing in the same condition as it is brought in to anticipate scientific developments and evidence, but they remain suggestions, The crime scene was bloody – Busby was evidence management for 25 years, first for becomes more precise, the amount of until the law says it can be disposed of. guarantee that evidence will be around for and without financial incentive it is difficult bludgeoned, her sons repeatedly stabbed the military and then for the Fort Worth and material being collected has also increased, Texas statutes cover it all: when and how coming advances – as with the extraction to ensure those practices are followed. – and while some DNA tests have been Wichita Falls PDs, before starting his own thrusting the maintenance of evidence – to destroy drug evidence, what procedures of so-called “touch DNA.” That, says Vasquez, The sizes and budgets of law enforcement performed, there was plenty of evidence evidence-control consulting business. More once considered the “red-headed stepchild need to be followed before abandoned is a fancy name for the shedding of skin agencies vary wildly across the state: APD that hadn’t been tested, including a sweat- often than not, the evidence hasn’t actually of law enforcement,” says Vasquez – into the property can be auctioned off, how long cells onto objects merely touched or has a vast warehouse, tightly maintained and blood-stained windbreaker. The jacket been removed from a law enforcement legal spotlight, and expanding the need materials that may contain biological picked up – like a salt shaker on a table. and managed, but that’s not the norm. is crucial, attorney Rob Owen has argued; storage facility – though scandals involving for skilled inventory management. “We are evidence must be kept. DNA remains on nearly every item a According to Vasquez, the norm for most found next to Busby’s body, the tan snap- stolen evidence are unnervingly common, somewhat overrun by stuff,” says Belton Texas has one of the nation’s strongest person comes into contact with, and DNA agencies is, at best, disorder. front jacket resembled one regularly worn as officials with the Houston PD can readily Police Chief Gene Ellis, a representative of laws covering the retention of evidence scientists are steadily perfecting the ability And then there’s the really bad: He’s seen by Busby’s now-deceased uncle Robert affirm. Instead, says Vasquez, missing the Texas Police Chiefs Association who was that might contain biological material. In to extract individual DNA profiles from a chemicals seized from a meth lab stored Donnell, who the defense claims was evidence is generally misplaced evidence among a group of stakeholders involved 2011, after a number of DNA exonerations, pool of donors – perhaps being able to in cardboard stacked atop other boxes of obsessed with Busby and may have been – logged into one area of a storage facility last year in the creation of best practices for lawmakers expanded the definition of isolate the DNA of one person from among evidence and leaking a corrosive brew; her real killer. In short, testing the jacket and then moved without anyone noting evidence preservation in Texas. DNA testing “biological material” to include any item many who have touched a restaurant salt he’s seen a human skull stored without might help prove Skin­ner’s innocence – or the new location, or overlooked when a “has enhanced so that we’re able to process that contains blood, semen, hair, saliva, shaker over the course of a day. When that packaging or any identifying information; confirm his guilt. department’s evidence-tracking system is things and come up with DNA evidence skin tissue, fingernail scrapings, bone, evidence is readily accepted by courts, the he’s seen a grenade, stored in a glass jar and upgraded. where we couldn’t before.” bodily fluids, or “any other identifiable realm of potential evidence will increase kept in a locker easily accessible to county On June 1, 2012, the state finally dropped biological material” that may exonerate exponentially. “[T]his philosophy has never jail inmates; and he’s seen boxes of evidence its opposition to the testing. Just two That is, perhaps, the good news – though Without sufficient understanding of the or incriminate a person suspected of a changed: When a detective gets on a crime quite literally pitched into a closet, without weeks later, Owen was again frustrated having something and not knowing where critical role that the proper preservation of crime. Lawmakers further required that scene, [he] has to think like [a] suspect,” regard to how the agency might later locate when the AG’s Office informed him that the it is, or not being able to find it, is hardly less evidence now plays – not only in convicting evidence in all unsolved felony cases be Vasquez explained during a meeting with any individual items. windbreaker was missing. “According to damaging than discovering that an item has the guilty, but also in freeing the innocent retained for at least 40 years, or kept until Robison, Mansfield PD evidence manager the state, every other piece of evidence in been stolen or destroyed outright. – the system is in serious trouble, officials an inmate is executed, dies, completes the Vincent Hunter, and the Chronicle. “What Lawmakers have so far failed to pass this case has been preserved,” he said at the warn. “Evidence has been one of the adjudicated sentence, is released on parole, has changed is thinking about it in a way of legislation that TAPEIT has spent a decade time. “It is difficult to understand how the Indeed, an investigation by the Chronicle biggest issues we’re dealing with in law or completes probation. The law requires his touching something. Is there evidence advocating: one code for all the laws state has managed to maintain custody of into the state of criminal evidence storage enforcement,” says Tony Widner, chief of the all parties to receive notice of any planned there? We always taught officers, ‘Bring us governing evidence destruction. Currently, items as small as fingernail clippings, while and retention in Texas reflects that while Graham PD, a small department south of destruction, and that process can be halted everything and the kitchen sink, and we’ll those laws are spread throughout different apparently losing something as large as a state laws firmly mandate the preservation Wichita Falls. “You’re not just talking about by the defendant, prosecutor, defense go from there.’” Robison laughed wryly; government codes. “How do you know man’s windbreaker.” and maintenance of evidence that may the credibility of the department; you’re attorney, or court. she’s had an officer bring in a kitchen sink, what to do with found property, if you contain biological material, there is little talking about a victim seeing justice.” she said. So has Hunter. “They are literally don’t know to look in the [Code of Criminal No one seems to know when or how the consistency in how these laws are actually To address the added costs, lawmakers bringing in kitchen sinks,” Vasquez said. Procedure] chapter on ‘Search Warrants’?” jacket went missing. The Pampa Police carried out, including wide disparities in In legislation alone, Texas is actually “one designated the Texas Department of Public Vasquez asks. If the state won’t consolidate Depart­ment, which investigated the how evidence is packaged and maintained. of the leading states” when it comes to Safety the depository for all biological Generously, only 7% of what is brought evidence and property laws into one place, murders, originally held all of the evidence Legislation enacted in 2011 extended by property and evidence-related procedures, evidence for counties with populations in as evidence is actually used in court, won’t require training or certification for related to the case. When the time came decades the length of time that items of says Vasquez, former president of the Texas under 100,000. But that was all they did to but all of the items collected by police are evidence technicians, and won’t provide for Skinner to be tried, the evidence was evidence that may contain DNA must be Association of Property and Evidence ease significant operational and financial regulated by retention laws, so the cost a pool of money to help law enforcement handed over to Gray County. Some time stored, and directed a group of stakeholders Inven­tory Technicians, which advocates for burdens that now fall on the more than to individual departments adds up. The agencies comply with best practices, serious after Skinner was tried, the jacket simply to come up with guidelines and best training for evidence technicians. “Texas is 2,000 law enforcement agencies across the Austin Police Department, for example, problems – lost or stolen property, or the disappeared – and no one knows where it practices for the handling and storage pretty much at the forefront.” Gayla Robi­ state, including roughly 800 local police maintains a roughly 62,000-square-foot untimely and improper destruction of went, said Gary Noblett, a 41-year veteran of of that evidence. However, many law son, who serves as TAPEIT secretary and departments. More evidence will have to be evidence warehouse (purchased and evidence – remain quite likely. If the state the Pampa PD and custodian of its evidence enforcement officials see the legislation as oversees property and evidence for the saved for far longer periods of time – in part outfitted for roughly $3.2 million, says APD’s wants to standardize procedures, that’s and property storage. Over the years, he merely a good first step, and moreover, an Burleson PD, agrees; it’s far worse in Arkan­ because the law doesn’t limit the retention evidence manager James Gibbens) where great, Vas­quez, Robison, and Hunter agree, said, a number of law enforcement types unfunded mandate. sas or New Mexico, she says, where there of biological materials to those collected in it stores an estimated 600,000 items, with but they each insisted that to get it right, have called looking for it – including officials are few evidence laws. Yet law enforcement connection with violent felonies, but rather approximately 60,000 items brought to the “you need to train the end users.” with the AG’s Office. “As far as I know of, Property and evidence technicians and agencies are tasked with keeping safe requires keeping material collected in every unit each year, at an annual cost of about

4 The Property Timeserty Times 5 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

That’s not happening, not only in Texas, out, the gun found next to Webster’s body may have to be retained for decades – as And whenever the opportunity presents is key to fostering certainty within the That is music to Gregg County but across the country, says Joseph Latta, a had been taken into evidence by the HPD well-preserved and easily retrieved in 30 itself, he lets other Texas chiefs know exactly criminal justice system, he says. “When the Commissioner Darryl Primo’s ears; in his retired 31-year veteran of the Burbank, Calif., in the Sixties and had long been recorded years as it is the day it’s brought in. With how high the stakes are. “What makes it determination is made [that] there may be county – as in many others – there are PD who serves as executive director of the as destroyed; the weapon had instead been this level of heightened scrutiny comes so important is that it’s the glue that binds mistakes in the process, we don’t want to no written policies about who handles International Association for Property and taken from evidence and was ultimately the need for more thorough and carefully us with the community. It’s about trust,” destroy our ability at some future date to evidence, or where or how it should be Evidence. There’s “no consistency, anywhere used as a throwdown in the Webster implemented policies; other than a jail, he says. “You do a good job of catching right that process.” Watkins says the story stored. An 18-year official in the Northeast you look,” he says. This isn’t particularly shooting. notes Belton’s Chief Ellis, a department’s the crook, but because of the system of Dallas’ exonerations should serve as a Texas county that includes the city of surprising, he notes, since police officers are, evidence operation is the “largest liability in it sometimes takes [a long time] to get cautionary tale for the rest of the state – and Longview, Primo has become passionate by and large, in charge of evidence: “In the Yet it wasn’t until 2007, after HPD an organization.” adjudicated.” Evidence is what makes that that his county’s experiences demonstrate about the problems of evidence storage police department, we chase bad guys; we acknowledged that some 30 firearms happen, he says. “The evidence part is not the need for mandatory, standardized and retention, an interest prompted by don’t take care of stuff,” he says. “It doesn’t had been stolen from evidence over the That is indeed the case, says Ed Harris, APD’s the fun part; the fun part is arresting people. evidence-handling policies throughout the the growing number of exonerees in matter whether you’re in Houston or Corpus course of six months and likely returned to chief of field support operations. Harris But the evidence is about following rules state. “I think that’s critical. You go from one Dallas County. The more he read about it, Christi, Albuquerque or L.A. We may end up the streets, that officials made the move remembers well the day he first toured the and getting the community to trust us to county to the next, and you have different the more he wondered whether his own with the stuff, but we don’t know how to to upgrade the department’s evidence department’s evidence storage facilities get them justice. If we don’t do the dirty policies,” he says, and there’s “no excuse” county would be able to put its hands on take care of it.” operations. Security at the decrepit facility, more than a decade ago. There were work, justice can’t be done.” at this point not to ensure compliance by key evidence if the need arose to revisit used continuously since 1902, says Vazquez, guns dumped in rubber trash cans in the all law enforcement agencies. “Dallas is a prosecution. He decided to find out; he Open any number of evidence rooms was lax at best; two years and some $14 basement of the department’s Downtown For Cornelius Dupree, it took more than 30 positioned to redefine prosecution because made calls across the county, to the D.A., to across the country and “you just want to million later, HPD moved its operations headquarters, and evidence was locked years for justice to open his Texas prison we have the old evidence and we [are] able the sheriff, to the district clerk. Did anyone cry,” says Rebecca Brown, a policy advocate into a state-of-the-art warehouse facility. In inside a simple metal cage erected in a cell. In 1980, Dupree was sentenced to 75 to advocate – and we will – for statewide have a policy in place regarding the storage at the Innocence Project who was among 2011, Vazquez was tapped to take over the corner of the HQ’s outdoor garage. “Oh years in prison for a rape and robbery he standards” and policies, not only for storage, and retention of evidence? No, he was told. the stakeholders tapped to develop Texas’ division, and he has earnestly vowed that my God, what have I gotten myself into?” did not commit. It wasn’t until 2011 that he but also for training for employees tasked Well, then who was responsible for keeping new best practices and who, along with the department will not repeat the mistakes he recalls thinking after the tour. “We had was finally exonerated – precisely because with ensuring evidence is properly retained evidence in criminal cases, he wondered. Latta, has been part of a U.S. Department of the past – a point he has impressed upon stuff everywhere. We were just like a lot Dallas County had maintained for more than and easily retrieved. of Justice-funded group working on a set HPD command staff. “When I was put over of agencies.” For years he fought to get three decades the evidence that would set of national standards. “Evidence rooms here, I was trying to point out ... just how the situation cleaned up, and, in 2010, the him free. Indeed, with 24 DNA exonerations have often been ... I wouldn’t say forgotten, important this operation is. I went through department finally moved its operation since 2001, Dallas County has freed the but not [a] resource-heavy” focus for law all of the [scandals] – the missing weapons, into its new facility. There are secured most wrongfully incarcerated men in the enforcement, she says. Texas “does have missing DNA,” and then, he said, he offered vaults for guns and money and drugs, state that leads the nation in exonerations. good statutes,” she says, “but the question is up a lesson in Texas history. Remember two commercial refrigeration units for all But exactly why Dallas saved all that how [they’re] being translated” into practice. the massacre at Goliad? he asked the HPD manner of biological material, and aisles evidence, decades before there were any brass. In that case, Mexican President Santa and aisles of blue plastic tubs and white legal requirements to do so, is something Unfortunately, says Latta, there is often little Anna ordered the execution of more than bankers’ boxes branded with bar codes that of a mystery. Certainly, in that regard Dallas focus on implementation unless and until a 300 captured Texas soldiers; the slaughter help to track the evidence stored inside. is a state, and perhaps a national, standout: department faces scandal – which, he notes, horrified the country, and just a month later, Applicants for Austin evidence jobs are nowhere else in the state does there exist happens almost daily somewhere in the U.S. during the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, vetted as rigorously as police cadets; it slows such a comprehensive library of evidence. “It’s unfortunate,” he says, “but [the evidence after which Texas gained independence down the process but ensures integrity, says And District Attor­ney Craig Watkins has room] doesn’t get to [be] the top [priority] from Mexico, troops rallied with battle cries manager Gibbens. “I fought like hell to get been widely applauded as a prosecutor without a problem.” that included “Remember Goliad!” Vazquez where we are,” Harris says. “I knew it was a unafraid to use that evidence to uncover paused and looked at the command staff: ticking time bomb, and we had to take care past mistakes. But even Watkins isn’t entirely That was certainly the case in Houston, “I said, ‘We need to remember Goliad of it before it went off.” sure how or why he’s been fortunate where years of neglect and mismanagement as well,’” he said, putting up a photo of enough to have the evidence in order to routinely put the HPD’s evidence operation 1103 Goliad Street in Houston, the site of Hillsboro Police Chief Tony Cain understands set right so many wrongs. “I don’t believe in the headlines. No one understands this the department’s century-old evidence that intimately. Some eight years ago, that when Dallas stored this evidence they better than HPD Capt. Charlie Vazquez, who facility. “Just like people came from Ohio, Cain’s property manager stole money from thought of DNA advancing to this level, oversees the 44 people in the department’s Tennessee, and New York [to fight at San evidence; she said she intended to pay it but for whatever reason, we stored it and property division. On average, the HPD Jacinto], I need people – [command staff], back before anyone knew it was gone. She science has caught up,” he says. Wat­kins takes in 65,000 items per year and stores homicide, patrol – to fight for property,” he was fired. And Cain’s “heart was broken, suspects that the motive for keeping the nearly 400,000 at any given time – not told his colleagues. “Otherwise you’re back not only from the criminal side of it, but evidence wasn’t so that the county would including narcotics evidence, which is kept to where you were.” also that this person who we really trusted be able to review its own work for error, but at a separate facility. “We made mistakes would steal from us,” says the 18-year so that it could “protect the conviction.” so bad they actually made a movie out And, frankly, going backward in a time veteran. The incident made Cain realize of us,” Vazquez says. Indeed, that 1981 of fast technological advancement is not that he needed tighter security and better Of course, evidence does both – and that’s made-for-TV movie (The Killing of Randy an option, Vazquez says. Every item of training for employees handling evidence. the point, he says. “We’re responsible for Webster) starred Hal Hol­brook as the father evidence must be carefully considered “Probably most departments our size don’t some of the most important acts forced of 17-year-old Randy Web­ster, killed in and painstakingly tracked. “Instead of put the same resources towards this, but we upon human beings – the taking of freedom 1977 by a Hous­ton cop who said the teen just being a fork, now it’s a fork with know the importance of it,” he says. or, in the worst cases in Texas, the taking of threatened him with a gun. As it turned possible DNA on it,” he says, meaning it life.” And being sure evidence is protected

6 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times 7 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

(Where’s Your Evidence ... cont.) in and require that policies be written evidence still exists; Ector County discarded and standards be followed. Funding the it long ago, officials there told us in 2005. The county had evidence stored in any enterprise can be accomplished with an (See “Who Killed Father Ryan?,” June 17, number of locations – “a locker at the extra fee on court filings, he suggests. 2005.) sheriff’s office, in a closet” for some items, “Nobody foresaw this coming,” he says of he says; biological evidence, he learned, was the DNA revolution. “We can’t undo what we Of course, it is hard to know exactly how got VeriPic? being stored in a small dorm fridge kept by did in the past, but we can take steps now many people may be serving sentences the district clerk. The materials were stored to ensure this stuff is protected from now on for crimes they did not commit – and that next to Cokes and candy bars, and the for someone 20 years down the road.” worries Primo, as he struggles to get his refrigerator was accessible to all employees. county to enact policies that might prevent Primo was stunned. “It was a little old dorm The crime scene inside room 126 of the that outcome. “The issue becomes, how fridge in her office,” he recalls. “A defense Sand and Sage motel in Odessa revealed many other cases could have, or would lawyer would disqualify that evidence in the aftermath of the violent and bloody have, been resolved in a more just manner a heartbeat.” The clerk has since moved death of Father Patrick Ryan, a well-liked if the evidence had been retained?” he evidence to a locked refrigerator – but only Catholic priest stationed in the tiny Pan­ wonders. To think that the state could be after Primo made a stink about the situation handle town of Denver City. Two years after preventing miscarriages of justice but to a local newspaper. “She had no idea that the 1981 murder, James Harry Reyos, who simply isn’t because of a lack of will or if the evidence gets contaminated that it is was friendly with Ryan and says he’d had even a minimal amount of funding for not admissible in court,” he says, that she a sexual encounter with the priest days training and preservation, disturbs Primo. was “sealing the fate of anyone who might before he was murdered, was sentenced “To a person sitting in a jail cell who knows need that evidence.” to 38 years in prison for Ryan’s killing. they’re innocent who wants testing, to find Primo has been pushing local officials – Reyos is adamant that he is innocent, and out that the county hasn’t cared about that including judges, the sheriff, and the D.A. virtually everyone who knows the case well evidence ... that’s really sad.” – to take seriously the need to develop agrees. Importantly, Reyos had a solid alibi stringent polices about how evidence will for the time of the murder that included Indeed, UT law professor Bill Allison knows be handled and who will be responsible. So a speeding ticket issued to him in New well the power of long-held evidence; he far he hasn’t had much success, he says. The Mexico, hundreds of miles from the scene of represented Michael Morton back in 1986 county’s “never had an incident” that would the crime. Unfortunately, Reyos, an alcoholic after Morton was accused – falsely – of warrant that, he says he’s been told. In July who has expressed deep shame over his murdering his wife Christine at their home 2012, he penned a letter to the county’s homosexuality – and the unexpected sexual in Williamson County, a crime for which five criminal court judges, again suggesting encounter he had with Ryan – later told law Morton spent nearly 25 years behind bars that the county “adopt a written policy to enforcement officials while in a drunken before finally being exonerated in 2012, govern” storage and preservation of criminal stupor that he was “responsible” for the thanks to DNA testing of evidence that had case evidence. To date he hasn’t gotten a crime. That was considered a confession and until recently been ignored by the state. “We single response. “I was very surprised,” he was apparently enough for jurors to ignore ought to be looking five to 10 years down says. “You would think they’d care.” other concrete details that point to Reyos’ the road,” toward scientific advancements innocence. Reyos has long tried to clear his and should be working toward them, he Primo doesn’t think his county’s experience name and has had champions along the says. “We ought to know what’s coming.” is unique. “We’re all over the map,” he way – notably both from law enforcement Dallas D.A. Watkins agrees. “Out of an says. “It’s the law in the state of Tex­as that and from famed and now-deceased Dallas abundance of caution,” he says, Texas counties keep ... evidence. That’s the law Morning News investigative reporter needs to act now to ensure compliance legislators have passed ... but who is to keep Howard Swindle – thus far without success. with evidence laws and to mandate proper The VeriPic Barcode System it or how it is to be kept is a hodgepodge.” training for all in law enforcement who Responses to an informal questionnaire Had the crime happened in Dallas County handle evidence. “Science will progress, and emailed to Texas sheriffs and to the state’s instead of Ector County, there is good science allows us not only to find mistakes district and county clerks by the Chronicle reason to believe that the quest to clear that were made in the past and to make confirmed wide disparities in the way Reyos would already have been successful. them right, but also to go forward to ensure evidence is handled and stored. Many Ryan was found inside the motel room that we don’t repeat these mistakes in the clerks said they did not have any policies naked and badly beaten, his hands bound future.” governing the storage of criminal evidence, tightly with a white sock. There was blood and many said those duties are handled by spatter and bloody fingerprints throughout ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE someone else in the county. While many the motel room, open beer cans on a AUSTIN CHRONICLE ON FRIDAY, sheriffs responded that they do refrigerate dresser, and discarded cigarette butts FEBRUARY 15, 2013 AND WAS biological evidence, for example, many littering the floor – all of it evidence that WRITTEN BY JORDAN SMITH. also responded that they do not segregate today might be subjected to DNA testing drugs from other stored evidence. Primo that could definitively reveal the identity believes strongly that the state must step of his killer. Unfortunately, none of that

9 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

TM Texas A&M Statistician Helps Restructure “EvidenceOnQ gives our evidence personnel, staff, city, and county departments so much more capability than we have ever had before with regard to property and evidence.” Law Enforcement Rick Krueger, Lieutenant, Rochester PD, MN Houston Police Crime Lab

by Patel Vimal, Texas A&M University

The scandal-plagued forensics division of the Houston Police Department has made major headway in recent years fixing mistakes of the last decade. A Texas A&M University statistician is now part of a national team of scientists providing technical advice to the country's second-fast- Providing Positive Outcomes... est growing city in its efforts to create an independent forensics laboratory.

Evidence Excellence - Crime Scene to Court Room Cliff Spiegelman is the only statistician in the nine-member Technical Advisory Group, a panel that will advise the independent city-chartered organization that took over the Houston Police Department forensic division. The advisory body will provide input on best practices in forensic Today's television shows about cold cases, crime scene science and lab operations to help move past the lab's troubled history, which included a temporary shutdown in 2002 following an audit that investigation, and forensics have caused an increase in Integrity revealed a variety of issues, from unqualified personnel and lax protocols to shoddy facilities and compromised evidence. the public's perception and expectations of evidence management. As a result, there is a pressing need for Peace of Mind "The end goal is to have a crime lab that‘s not associated with the police department, so it's not trying to please its employer, but rather law enforcement agencies to implement solutions to focused on doing good science," said Spiegelman, a distinguished professor in the Department of Statistics.

ensure the security and integrity of evidence from Excellence It's a task well-suited for Spiegelman: He has been an ardent advocate of the need for the criminal justice system to better embrace science in the initial crime scene to the court room. the courtroom. FileOnQ, Inc. provides agencies with these guarantees through a 100% customizable software solution: EvidenceOnQ. Agencies at the local, state, and federal level have successfully implemented Relying on his statistics expertise, Spiegelman was a forceful opponent of a method of forensic testing called Comparative Bullet-Lead Analysis the system to manage not only evidence, but also officer equipment, assets, crime scenes, fleet, and (CBLA), which partly through his work the FBI discredited in 2007. The abandoned technique used chemistry to link bullets from a crime scene to those owned by a suspect and was first used following the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. more. They discovered it was much more than a software system, it provided the tools they needed

to work together and increase efficiencies throughout their entire jurisdiction. Spiegelman also makes a few out-of-state trips a year — often for free — to testify in cases in which he believes the forensic science is flawed. He often works with the Innocence Project, the national non-profit legal clinic dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and other post-verdict methods.

"It's an area of science where I have expertise, and there's a shortage of statistical help," Spiegelman said. "And Houston is a community not Investigators Prosecutors far from our own. I think I can do some good and help cut down on the number of false convictions and on the number of guilty people walk- Hand-written evidence documentation should be a With ever increasing caseloads, prosecutors need ing around free." thing of the past and replaced with an automated, time-saving tools to help them manage their cases. intuitive system that is customizable to meet the Technology today enables them to access evidence Spiegelman's panel will advise the Houston Forensic Science Local Government Corporation, Inc., which was established by Mayor Annise needs of each agency. Evidence collected at crime information from a Web connection; they can print Parker and the Houston City Council. The Technical Advisory Group will help the HFSLGC meet and maintain high standards of technical per- scenes should be immediately entered into the the chain of custody, view photos, play audio and system electronically, creating an automated chain video recordings, read lab reports, and submit formance and accreditation and advise the board of new developments in the rapidly changing fields of forensic science, according to a news of custody that literally starts at the crime scene. requests and authorizations. This eliminates release from the City of Houston. This sets the stage for a successful phone calls and requests for information investigation and prosecution. and time-consuming trips to the In the May release, Parker described the establishment of the advisory panel of scientists as "an important milestone in the process of form- property room to view evidence. ing an independent forensic science center of the highest quality."

Spiegelman is a founder within statistics of the field of chemometrics, the science of using data to extract information from chemical systems. He also is a senior research scientist with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, the state's transportation research agency. He joined the Texas A&M Department of Statistics in 1987 as an assistant professor, earning promotion to full professor in 1990 and to distinguished profes- Courts Public sor in 2009.

It is imperative that evidence brought to The public has never been more critical of the The other members of the advisory panel are: Bruce Budowle, director of the Univ. of North Texas Institute of Investigative Genetics; Darrell court have an inherent integrity, professionalism, criminal justice system and evidence management. Davis, a former Drug Enforcement Administration lab director in Dallas; David Epstein, an expert in forensic chemistry; Antonios Mikos, a and security. It must have a solid, unalterable chain DNA is solving decades-old cases that provide professor at Rice Univ. and member of the National Academy of Engineering; Surgur Srihari, a distinguished professor at the State University of custody with multiple levels of security. Once long-awaited justice, and convicted people are being of New York and expert in data handling and document analysis; Elizabeth Todd, a chief of the Dallas County Institute of Forensic Sciences; admitted as a court exhibit, the chain of custody proven innocent as well. Law enforcement agencies should continue on while in the custody of the have been successfully sued because the evidence and Bobby Wilson, a chemistry professor and former provost of Texas Southern Univ. HFSLGC board member Enrique Barrera, a mechanical courts and throughout the appellate process. was mismanaged, which stalled their exoneration for engineering and materials science professor at Rice University, is serving as a liaison between the board and the advisory panel. many years. It is imperative that agencies understand the importance of managing not just incoming Click here to learn more about Spiegelman and his efforts to connect statistical science with the criminal justice system. evidence, but evidence they have had for decades.

Source: Texas A&M Univ.

To Learn More: www.fileonq.com | 1.800.603.6802 10 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times 11 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014 Former Raytown police officer charged for thefts from evidence room KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer

A former Raytown police officer has been charged in connection with thefts of drugs and valuables from a Raytown police evidence room, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Friday. Environmental Justin M. Pool, 35, faces three felony counts of theft of a controlled substance and two other felony counts of theft of property. Services The thefts occurred in January, according to court records filed Friday. An investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control found missing valuables, including gold jewelry and controlled substances, including pills of oxycodone. Pool was an officer in Raytown at the time. The ability to properly dispose of special, confidential, and The Raytown Police Department requested the Highway Patrol investigate after Raytown police began to suspect that sensitive materials is more of a challenge today than ever thefts had occurred. Raytown police do not believe the loss of any evidence should impact any open criminal case. before. Additional challenges emerge each day for those charged with the responsibility of managing disposal of Prosecutors requested Pool's bond be set at $50,000/10 percent or secured. these special materials.

Copyright 2013 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved. Environmental Services A Better Disposal/Incineration Solution The Sharps Environmental Services solution is unique and proven. We offer a controlled, confidential, convenient, cost-effective, and practical solution for your business or organization. • Security and privacy in a facility that has a successful history with businesses and government agencies including the DEA • Destruction through incineration at temperatures above 1400 degrees • Burning to ash or, as with items such as firearms, rendering useless • Proof of destruction provided on-site, including weight of materials

A Convenient Alternative Sharps Environmental Services is a fast, flexible, friendly, high-service, customer-focused organization with tremendous customer satisfaction and high retention rate. • A single point of contact For a Quote Call • Confidential scheduled appointment times for material destruction 903.693.2525 • Service without long–term contracts or minimum service levels • Destruction of a variety of types of materials simultaneously Sharps Environmental Services, Inc. 1544 NE Loop Carthage, TX 75633 • Consolidation of multiple services on one invoice 903.693.2525 • Viewing of destruction from an internal viewing office Contact: Meghan Wcisel - [email protected] Enjoy A Better Solution David Martin - [email protected] Fully-permitted by the State of Texas and Contact us today, and discover for yourself the unmatched approved by the Texas Commission on convenience, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and safety of Environmental Quality under Permit No. 1741-A Sharps Environmental Services.

12 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times Sharps Environmental Services, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sharps Compliance, Inc. www.sharpsinc.com The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014 Critical Evidence

To careful observers of Michael Morton’s long search for justice, one of the biggest revelations of Mark Alan Norwood’s capital murder trial came late in the day Wednesday, when a Williamson County employee named Jennifer Smith took the stand. For much of the day, testimony had centered on the bloody blue bandana that had been found behind the Morton home in 1986 and was finally subjected to DNA testing in 2011. (The results exonerated Michael, who had been wrongly convicted of murdering his wife, Christine, and brought about the indictment of Norwood, whose DNA was found intermingled with her blood.) As readers of my series on Michael’s case may remember, that DNA testing had taken place over the heated objections of then-Williamson County D.A. John Bradley. Michael’s attorneys had filed their first motion for DNA testing back in 2005, and Bradley had fought them for the next five years until an appellate court stepped in and issued an order that the testing be performed.

The battle over DNA testing has not been discussed in front of the jury in the Norwood case. (Nor have any of the details of Michael’s wrong- ful conviction, due to a court order that bars any testimony about it during Norwood's trial.) But Williamson County’s longstanding resistance to having the bandana tested was very much on my mind when Smith—who supervises the county’s evidence room—testified that no one had been able to locate the bandana until it was finally discovered on May 25, 2010. (This date, not coincidentally, follows closely on the heels of a judge’s order instructing the county to submit the bandana for DNA testing.) It was on that day, Smith said, that she was visited by a prosecutor and an investigator from the D.A.’s office who instructed her to open every single sealed envelope in the Morton evidence file. Eventually, after carefully opening and re-sealing each envelope, she was able to locate the bandana. “It wasn’t labeled properly, so we didn’t know it was there,” Smith told the jury.

In fairness to Smith, she seemed diligent and eager to modernize the poorly-organized evidence room that she had inherited. She testified that after more digging, she eventually managed to locate the strand of hair that had been found with the bandana in 1986. (The hair was hidden, as if it were a Russian nesting doll, inside a succession of mislabeled manila envelopes.) Then, and only then, was the evidence ready to be submitted for testing. In other words, throughout the five years that Williamson County had staged a pitched battle in state and federal court to block DNA testing of the bandana and the strand of hair, no one actually knew their whereabouts.

Much of Wednesday’s testimony highlighted the capriciousness of Williamson County justice, and testimony from John Kirkpatrick, Christine’s older brother, emphasized local law enforcement's seeming indifference to aggressively investigating the case. Kirkpatrick's lingering exas- peration was evident as he described arriving at the Morton home the morning after the murder. “I didn’t see any police,” he told the jury. “I was frustrated by the total lack of investigation. I felt like so many things should have been happening for such a recent event.” Frantic to take action before leads went cold, he said he made phone calls around town, trying to see if anyone could conduct a search of the surrounding area with tracking dogs, which he hoped could pick up the scent of his sister’s killer. “As far as I was concerned, this was an outside intruder that had come in and killed my sister,” he testified. “It seemed so obvious.”

Out of desperation he decided to try to re-trace the killer’s footsteps. He started at the spot where he felt certain that the intruder had en- tered the Morton home: the sliding glass door at the rear of the house, which had been unlocked on the morning of the murder. From there, he walked across the backyard to the inside perimeter of the privacy fence, where he said he noticed one, or maybe two, impressions in the ground that appeared to be where someone had landed after jumping the fence. Then he walked around behind the fence and looked back at the Morton home. “You could see through the fence,” he said. “There were gaps in the boards where you could see Michael’s comings and goings, and when Chrissy was gone. This was how someone had cased it out.”

He told the jury that he explored the densely wooded lot behind the privacy fence until he reached a nearby construction site. It was there, by the curb, that he spotted the bandana. “The moment I saw it, I knew it was important,” he said. “I carefully picked it up and looked at it.” He remembered noting that portions of the bandana were discolored. "I’m not going to say I knew it was blood, but it looked abnormal,” Kirk- patrick told the jury. He picked up the bandana by the corner, being as careful as possible not to contaminate it. Then he walked back into the Morton home, placed it in a Ziploc bag, and called the sheriff’s department. Kirkpatrick stated that he was never questioned by law enforce- ment about the bandana, and he never heard about it again.

Kirkpatrick said he left Texas after his sister’s funeral. “I put this as far out of my mind for so long,” he testified. He went on to explain that he and his wife had only recently informed their grown children—who are 28 and 30—that Christine had been murdered.

A normally taciturn marine biologist, Kirkpatrick was overcome with emotion several times as he recounted memories of his baby sister. He told the jury of attending her 1979 wedding to Michael, at which she aimed her bouquet right at him, striking him in the chest. When he let the bouquet fall to the ground, she picked it up and forced it into his hands. Three months later, he told the jury, he met his future wife,Di- anne. Kirkpatrick also recalled the day that he learned Christine had been murdered. His father, John, called and said, “I’m going to tell you the worst news you’re ever going to hear in your life.”

The other witnesses who took the stand Wednesday included two former law enforcement officers, a crime lab technician, and a crime scene photographer.

15 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

Former Williamson County patrol deputy John Chandler testified about a report he had written that I had never heard of before. Chandler stated that he wrote the report after speaking with one of the Mortons’ neighbors, who said they saw a black van just a few doors down from the Morton home at 7:21 a.m. on the morning that Christine was killed. (Christine is believed to have been killed shortly after Michael left for work early that morning.) Chandler’s report—which Michael’s legal team never saw—seems potentially related to other neighbors’ accounts of a green van that was seen behind the Morton home around the time of the murder. These leads were never followed up on or passed along to Morton’s defense team.

Chandler also testified about another important clue that should have tipped investigators off to the fact that Christine was killed by an unknown intruder. He stated that a burglar alarm sounded at a house that just was a block away from the Mortons’ home—roughly a half block from where John Kirkpatrick found the bloody bandana—at 7:33 a.m. that same morning. (Chandler put this information in a report, but Michael’s defense team was never of its existence.) Because the home’s owners were out of town at the time and no one appeared to have actually entered the house, Williamson County sheriff’s deputies failed to investigate further.

As I listened to Chandler testify, I was stunned. How might the course of the investigation have gone differently if someone had followed up on these seemingly obvious leads? If fingerprints had been lifted from the exterior of that house, or if casts had been made of those footprints, would that have helped identify Christine's killer? We'll never know.

Originally published in Texas Monthly - Wednesday, March 20, 2013 by Pamela Colloff

16 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014 More Hospitals to Collect Sexual Assault Evidence Throughout August, The Texas Tribune will under this story shows where those nurse in theory be added to training that feature 31 ways Texans’ lives will change examiners are located in Texas.) emergency room doctors and nurses because of new laws that take effect Sept. already undergo, she said. 1. Check out our story calendar for more. Although primary care centers will Protecting remain the best option for survivors, Until licensing boards determine how Victims of sexual assault will no longer they are often not a viable one, said to certify nurses and doctors in basic have to travel to potentially far-off Torie Camp, deputy director at the Texas evidence collection, it’s hard to determine hospitals to have forensic evidence Association Against Sexual Assault. Camp the costs for hospitals to meet SB 1191’s the collected, following the implementation of cited distance, family and professional standards, said Sherry Brown, who chairs a a new law this fall. obligations, and travel costs as reasons policy and procedure committee for Seton victims might not go to a second hospital Medical Center. Starting Sept. 1, all Texas hospitals with after being stabilized. Chain of Custody emergency rooms will be required to have The center operates multiple hospitals in staff trained in at least basic collection “At least they’re going to have their Texas, many of which do not have SANE of forensic evidence from sexual assault evidence collected with someone with programs. victims. some level of training” under SB 1191, she said, adding that it “may not be the best Depending on the hours of training Currently, communities in Texas are standard of care, but it’s going to get the deemed necessary, the cost “could be required to have one facility designated job done.” substantial,” Brown said. as the primary care center for victims of sexual assault. If the victims go to a SB 1191 was primarily authored by state “It’s going to be a very large undertaking” hospital that lacks the designation, they Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, who for hospitals that don’t have SANE are stabilized but would have to go to said it was inspired by stories of women programs, she said. the primary center for evidence to be collected. Now, all emergency room hospitals will have to offer to collect such “Starting Sept. 1, all Texas hospitals with evidence. emergency rooms will be required to have staff The primary care center designation trained in at least basic collection of forensic stems from a 2005 law that required communities in the state to devise plans evidence from sexual assault victims.” for law enforcement, health care providers and sexual assault victims’ advocates to respond to sexual assault cases. who had to go to multiple hospitals for treatment and evidence collection after In addition to hospital regulations, SB Under Senate Bill 1191, any hospital with being sexually assaulted. 1191 stipulates that the Department of an emergency room must have physicians State Health Services publish an online list and nurses trained in a basic level of “My fear is that some women won’t of hospitals designated as primary care forensic evidence collection — a standard continue to do that,” Davis said. “They facilities for sexual assault survivors. DSHS still less rigorous than that required for the won’t go forward and prosecute their case.” is “still determining how we’ll collect that Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners that most information,” spokesman Chris Van Deusen primary care centers have. The hospitals Kelly Davenport, an Austin Police said in an email. will also be required to give patients the Department sergeant who deals with sex option of a transfer to the primary care crimes, said that she does not believe SB Sexual assault is historically center after they have been medically 1191 will change the number of crimes underreported, with only 18 percent of stabilized. prosecuted in Austin but that it could have victims reporting the incident, Camp said. a major impact in rural areas. Victims might not report the crime for Requiring all hospitals to have a SANE a variety of reasons, and they can have program — which are found mostly In those regions, survivors who find out evidence collected without speaking in primary care centers — would be they may need to drive several hours to to law enforcement, she said, leaving it impractically expensive, said Jennifer have evidence collected, “may think twice unclear whether SB 1191 will increase Banda, the Texas Hospital Association’s before going through it,” she said. sexual assault reporting rates. vice president of advocacy, public policy and HOSPAC, the political action “It might be a vast improvement where “But I can hope that if a sexual assault committee the association operates. SANE people know they can get the services survivor is engaged positively by the certification is costly, and currently, there they need and the response they want system — even if it’s the medical system — are not enough certified personnel in the locally,” she said. then perhaps they’ll be encouraged to pick state for every hospital to have a SANE up the phone and call law enforcement,” program, she said. Banda, who worked with Davis’ office in she said. drafting SB 1191, said having all hospitals BY SHEFALI LUTHRA and KK REBECCA LAI Currently, 312 sexual assault nurse provide professionals trained in basic examiners are certified in the state, evidence collection would present This story was produced in partnership with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent according to the Texas attorney general’s them with a standard that “wouldn’t be program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, office, which runs that program and impossible to comply with.” The training a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and certifies the nurse examiners. (A map for forensic evidence collection could communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

19 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014 Marijuana disposal boxes installed at Colorado airport

By Hugo Martin January 19, 2014, 11:00 a.m. Originally published in Los Angeles Times

Colorado Springs Airport recently installed three green metal containers in the ter- minal where travelers can deposit marijuana, which is legal to buy in Colorado but banned in the airport.

Sorry, but the airport is not taking job applications for amnesty box attendants.

With recreational marijuana now on sale in Colorado, Denver International and Colorado Springs airports have made it clear that travelers cannot bring pot through Your Local Source for their facilities. Even medical marijuana is forbidden. But the folks at the Colorado Springs airport, about 70 miles south of Denver, don’t Packaging & Shipping Products want travelers to dump bags of overlooked pot into the terminal trash bins. For that reason, the airport has installed “amnesty boxes.” Low Prices, Excellent Service, Quality Products A spokesman for the airport said the boxes will be monitored 24 hours a day, with Order & receive Colorado Springs police responsible for emptying the boxes and destroying the drugs your packaging and left inside. shipping products EDITOR’S NOTE: Our Police Department actually has two of these disposal units and Associated Bag Company has the  Get 10% Off any item in the same day! there is not a week that goes by that we don’t find disposed of drugs for destruction. We recently destroyed approximately 500 products you need, in-stock, and you’ve never bought before can often deliver the same day! Our  Same-Day Delivery customer service is the best in the available in local area  Providing quality products industry, with friendly, knowledgeable and service since 1938 representatives that are ready to  Next-Day Delivery on  365-Day Returns answer your questions, work with you orders placed by 7 p.m. CT on your custom products and even  Ask for Free Freight on  100% Satisfaction provide you with free test samples. orders of $250 or more Guarantee

College Scholarships! Did you realize that TAPEIT has a college scholarship pro- gram? It’s not only available for you to apply for your chil- dren but for yourself as well if you are attending college! The application for the scholarship can be found on the TAPEIT website at www.tapeit.net. Simply complete the application Call 800-926-6100 for a and return it by the deadline of July 1st! FREE catalog, FREE samples, or visit our website at 22 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times 4039 Rock Quarry Road www.associatedbag.com today! Dallas, TX 75211 The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

MISSING EVIDENCE PROMPTED REVIEW OF COUNTY FORENSICS, CRIME LABS ELYRIA — The review that led to the impend- That policy was changed roughly six months de Leon is the only person working for the ing closure of the Lorain County Forensics ago, according to Burge and Lubbe. And county who could certify the results of the Laboratory was prompted when a bag of pre- although a new policy hasn’t been put into lab work. scription drugs a county judge had ordered writing, the probation officers have been told destroyed went missing. not to seize anything. So the county set de Leon up in an office in the Lorain County Administration Building General Division Court Administrator Tim “We collect nothing, and if we do it’s going to where he has spent the past two months re- Lubbe said the final decision to shutter the go to a cop,” Burge said. viewing the results of the tests and certifying Forensics Lab, where probationers are drug them. tested, was ultimately a financial one and not The policy change left open the question connected to the missing pills, which were of what to do with years of accumulated Meanwhile, the destruction of old evidence later recovered and destroyed. seized items and Burge ordered the evidence continued, with Burge issuing two more destroyed. orders to that effect in November. Lubbe said an internal probe traced the disappearance of the pills to Emmanuel de In an Oct. 28 court order, Burge ordered the Lubbe said that in December the internal Leon, who oversaw the Forensics Lab as well destruction of 169 pieces of evidence ranging reviews determined that two guns, a 9 mm as the county’s Crime Lab, which is operated from weaponry such as guns, swords, cross- semiautomatic pistol and a .22-caliber gun of by the county commissioners to test evi- bows and daggers to drugs and drug para- undetermined make, were missing, as was a dence, including drug,s seized during criminal phernalia. Also ordered destroyed were more police scanner. investigations. unusual items such as a vibrator, fingernail clippers and a lanyard with two keys. “The foregoing items were logged into your De Leon also served as the chief deputy in Missing evidence custody and there is no evidence of their de- the county’s Adult Probation Department, a struction,” Lubbe wrote in the Jan. 15 letter position he resigned from in a letter dated Also slated for destruction was a “misc. zip- to de Leon. Thursday that cited the closure of the Foren- lock (sic) bag of random prescription medica- sics Lab as the reason for his departure. De tion.” Although not mentioned in the letter, Lubbe Leon will be laid off from his job as director said a few other items, including at least one of the Forensics Lab on Jan. 31, the same day Lubbe said that as the items were being BB gun, also can’t be located. two other workers in the lab also will lose inventoried for destruction in the days that their jobs, Lubbe said. followed Burge’s order, Cwalina noticed that Exactly what happened to the guns, scan- the bag of prescription drugs was missing. ner and other items is unclear, Lubbe said. According to a letter scheduling a disciplinary He said de Leon was on vacation at the time He said it’s possible the weapons were hearing that was sent to de Leon on Jan. 15, and so Cwalina talked to other probation destroyed under separate court orders in he was accused of misconduct not only in officers who had been involved in rounding individual cases. connection with the pills, but also for two up the old evidence for destruction. Those of- guns and a police scanner that disappeared ficers told her to talk to de Leon, Lubbe said. Lubbe also noted that the old courthouse from the Probation Department’s evidence When de Leon was contacted, he twice de- has been burglarized several times in recent room in the old Lorain County Courthouse. nied knowing where the drugs were, Lubbe months, although there’s nothing to suggest That hearing, which had been scheduled said. that the evidence room was entered. He said for Tuesday, never took place because de during the most recent break-in, which took Leon resigned, Lubbe said. De Leon and his But days later, he said, de Leon came in while place over the holidays, two computers were attorney did not return messages seeking still on vacation and produced the medication stolen. comment Tuesday. and offered up an explanation. The alleged mishandling of the pills con- The decision to destroy the pills came last fall “His decision to take the drugs was so that he vinced the county’s judges that they needed after Chief Probation Officer Beth Cwalina in- could use them as a baseline (in drug tests), to review their policies and procedures to quired about a large amount of evidence that or as a standard, as he called it,” Lubbe said. better determine how the Forensics Lab — had been seized by the county’s probation Lubbe said de Leon told him he was trying to and by extension, the Crime Lab — was being officers over the years, Lubbe said. save the county money it would have spent operated, Lubbe said. buying drugs from a pharmacy to use as stan- Administrative Judge James Burge said that dards in lab work. “There was a concern that we were not fully it became apparent to the General Division apprised of processes and we wanted to judges, who oversee the Probation Depart- “I don’t have any evidence that he committed make sure at the end of the day that we were ment, that probation officers had been seiz- a crime,” Lubbe said. doing our best to maintain the public trust,” ing items that they probably shouldn’t have he said. been taking. If there was evidence of a crime, Still, the issue prompted Lubbe to place de such as drug or weapons possession, Burge Leon on paid administrative leave Nov. 21. Both the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investiga- said, probation officers should have been But Lorain County Administrator Jim Cordes tion, which operates the state’s crime lab, turning that evidence over to a police officer. said that created a problem for both the and the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy were Forensics Lab and the Crime Lab. He said brought in to evaluate the two county labs, 25 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

couldn’t see taking any disciplinary action (cont. from Page 25) The shift to instant tests is expected to against de Leon for something he may have save the courts roughly $200,000 per year, done while he was working for the courts. which share staff and space in the base- Lubbe said. ment of the old county courthouse. “As of right now these are unfounded alle- He said the changes mean that the Pro- gations because they haven’t been vetted Lubbe said he’s not aware of any written bation Department will only need two through any disciplinary process that I’m BCI recommendations, but the Pharmacy people, rather than the current five at the aware of,” he said. Board completed a four-page report that Forensics Lab, to handle drug testing. The concluded “there is a lack of security and two employees who will remain will be The bigger issue, Cordes said, is how to accountability of dangerous drugs used in responsible for monitoring probationers as fund the Crime Lab without the Probation this lab.” they take the tests. Department sharing the cost of lab employ- ees. The report suggested that the labs update The decision has set off a scramble among their comprehensive evidence logs, as well other probation departments and agencies County Budget Director Lisa Hobart said as completing drug purchase and chain of in the county who paid the Forensics Lab it cost $249,340 to run the Crime Lab in custody records. It also made reference to to conduct drug testing for them. Cwalina 2013, but a joint levy that funds both the the missing pills. noted in her letter that the requests for Crime Lab and the Lorain County Drug Task those tests dropped off last year. Force brought in only $153,701 for the lab “Due to the incident with Group 7 Item #9 last year. Combined with another $18,240 on journal entry, baggie of pills for destruc- County Juvenile Court Administrator Jody in miscellaneous revenue, the Crime Lab tion, this facility must have better security Barilla said juvenile probation officers and brought in a total of $171,944, she said. of keys,” the report said. judges like the more detailed testing be- cause it gives them a better understanding Hobart said the commissioners have been Despite the problems, Lubbe and Burge of what a juvenile probationer is doing. supplementing the cost of operating the both said it was the cost of administering Crime Lab with carryover money. The lab the drug tests that led the judges to close She said the Juvenile Court didn’t learn the had a carryover of $429,283 from 2013 into down the Forensics Lab, which conducted Forensics Lab was closing until last week. 2014. 48,760 tests in 2013. “Obviously, it was very short notice that we But Cordes said that money will only last In a Jan. 8 letter to Lubbe, Cwalina wrote were given about the closing,” Barilla said. for so long now that the commissioners will that the Forensics Lab was charging $10 to “We are trying to figure out what we’re be responsible for paying the full cost of administer the tests, which provide exten- going to do as an alternative.” the lab and its workers. sive analysis of urine specimens, including the level of illegal drugs in a probationer’s The closure of the Forensics Lab has also The commissioners will consider wheth- system. left the future of the Crime Lab in doubt. er to approve putting an additional levy to fund the Crime Lab on the May ballot Burge said that level of detail is unneces- Cordes said he and the commissioners have during their meeting today. sary for judges when determining whether largely taken a hands-off approach to the someone has violated the terms of his lab over the years, leaving the day-to-day County Prosecutor Dennis Will said he’s probation by using drugs illegally. operation in de Leon’s hands. He said de received several concerned calls from local Leon, who county records showed earned law enforcement agencies worried that “To me, it’s drunk, drunker or drunkest,” $63,498.72 in 2013, was a court employee the Crime Lab would close along with the Burge said. “To me, if I’ve told you not to and only received a portion of his salary Forensics Lab. The Crime Lab is widely drink, I don’t care what your alcohol level from the commissioners. credited with avoiding delays in cases that was and the same with drugs.” would come from sending drug evidence to Cordes said he will ask the commissioners BCI’s Reynoldsburg lab for testing. The lab analysis also took days to produce to approve a measure today that would see results, Cwalina wrote, something that put them hire de Leon at a reduced salary to Will said he while he was aware of some Lorain County out of step with other pro- continue to run the Crime Lab for at least inconsistencies at the Forensics Lab, he bation departments, where the standard another month while the lab is restruc- hadn’t heard the allegations of missing practice is to use instant tests. She wrote tured. drugs and guns. the cost for the instant urine tests will be $2.46 each. “I’ve got to keep the lab open, and I can’t “I will be making inquiries,” he said. keep the lab open without (de Leon),” he Cwalina also wrote that while probationers said. Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or are supposed to pay for their tests, many [email protected]. of them cannot afford it and the Probation Cordes said he didn’t know the full details Originally published in The Chronicle Department ends up picking up the tab. of the allegations against de Leon and Telegram

26 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

Apply for Grant Money for Your Department!

Texas Association of Property, Evidence, Technicians has established a Grant Fund to help agencies purchase equipment, supplies, or other products that shall be used within a property room to help the agency. store property or evidence until its final disposition.

The deadline for these applications is August 1st!

27 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Your association needs your help!

Your TAPEIT Officers / Board are looking for a few good men, or women. Have you ever thought about teaching? TAPEIT needs in- structors who are VERY knowledgeable on the laws in regards to the property room and would like to help instruct at our conferences. Think back to when you first started working in the property room and how lost you were - someone helped you so now it is time for you to pay it forward.

If you have a desire (along with your instructors certification or 2 years experience in teaching) and would like to help with the conference, please contact Gayla Robison, [email protected] or call 817-426-9938 for more details.

Remember we are only as good as you, our members!

Nominate Someone for the Technician of the Year Award! The Texas Association of Property and Evidence In- ventory Technicians will select annually one Prop- erty Technician as the Property and Evidence Technician of the year. The individual will be rec- ognized at the annual con- ference.

28 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times The Property Times - January 2014 The Property Times - January 2014

30 ThThe Property Timesee Property Times