Delays at the State Bureau of Investigation's crime lab in Raleigh have stalled hundreds of felony drug cases from going to trial in Cumberland County.
District Attorney Billy West said that, on average, it takes about a year for his office to get test results back from the lab.
Without those results, West said, the grand jury cannot indict most people accused of drug offenses.
"Those cases just basically have to wait," West said.
He said his office has 3,370 felony cases awaiting indictments. Of those, 758 are drug cases that have stalled because test results have not been returned from the crime lab.
Joe John, director of the SBI's three crime laboratories, said the labs have faced long delays since before he took the helm three years ago.
John said the reasons for the backlog are largely threefold: Too few analysts to conduct the tests, an increasing number of cases, and a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that requires technicians to testify in court rather than submit test results in an affidavit.
In fiscal 2012, John said, 124 laboratory analysts were working for the state, down from 130 analysts in 2009.
He said the legislature this year approved hiring an additional 19 toxicologists. But a request for 21 DNA analysts -- on top of the 25 already working -- is still pending.
John said toxicology tests, used heavily for DWI cases, take only days to analyze. Drug testing takes only a few days more, he said.
In 2009, John said, alcohol and drug cases presented to the crime lab increased 16 percent.
In 2011 and 2012, he said, the state's 26 drug chemists faced more than 20,000 cases.
"They're doing as well as they possibly can," John said. "These are really, really dedicated folks."
Supreme Court ruling
Adding to the caseload is a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Melendez-Diaz vs. Massachusetts. The court ruled that lab technicians must present their findings in person at the request of the defense.
When technicians are in court, John said, that is time they are not in the lab processing evidence.
"It may well be an entire day of work lost here in the laboratory," he said.
A year after the Supreme Court's ruling, the hours technicians spent in court for toxicology cases soared 242 percent.
West said his office has been able to move some drug cases forward, but only those in which the person charged admits that the materials seized from him were in fact a specific type of drug.
However in some cases, it's not just about what type of drug, West said, but the quantity.
"We normally have to know the amount to know what the appropriate charge is to present to the grand jury," he said.
West said his office also has faced delays getting blood test results in DWI cases.
John said he hopes that problem is relieved in the next year with the hiring of 19 toxicologists.
Those positions, which can take longer than a year to fill, will likely be based in the state's western lab in Asheville. But John said they should alleviate the pressure on toxicology testing done in Raleigh.
West said the legislature allocated $500,000 to hospitals accredited by the state Department of Health and Human Services to do blood and toxicology testing.
But that money won't go far, he said.
"Half a million sounds like a lot, but when you start spreading that out across the state, it gets thin," West said.
West said local law enforcement officials -- including Fayetteville Police Chief Harold Medlock and Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler -- support having a lab in the city.
Several counties have their own labs, to different degrees, including Wake, New Hanover and Pitt.
For Cumberland County, funding is the hurdle.
"Obviously, with the economy and everything, resources are limited," West said. "We just did the addition to the jail as we appreciate that. There's a lot of needs and not as many resources."
The idea of an eastern SBI lab in Wilmington or Lumberton is another option West likes. But that sort of decision would require legislative approval and funding, he said.
The SBI has been working to rebuild its reputation since 2010, when it was discovered that analysts had mishandled at least 200 cases between 1987 and 2003, often by misrepresenting blood work and hiding evidence.
West said the effort to rebuild the lab's reputation is necessary but may have hindered its ability to do work quickly.
Another problem facing the labs, John and West said, is competition from the private sector. Highly trained state technicians are being lured away by private labs that can offer more pay.
Copyright 2013 - The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
