Anti Federalist
05-30-2011, 04:53 PM
God help you if your freedom is hanging on evidence at this crime lab, abandonded by Detroit cops, as that city continues it's descent into a ghost town.
Detroit police chief takes blame for abandoned evidence at crime lab
http://www.freep.com/article/20110528/NEWS01/105280393/Detroit-police-chief-takes-blame-abandoned-evidence-crime-lab?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Months before Ralph Godbee Jr. was appointed Detroit police chief last year, his then-boss, Warren Evans, ordered him to oversee the removal of evidence from the city's beleaguered crime lab so the city could close the dingy building for good.
Despite that responsibility, Godbee, who was then assistant police chief, acknowledged to the Free Press on Friday that he failed to ensure material was removed from the Brush Park building as skeletal police staffing there was reassigned.
What police left behind has shocked judicial experts and raised a host of questions about the validity of evidence stored at the lab -- and increased calls for federal oversight of Detroit evidence handling. "We are looking into the situation," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said.
State Police, meanwhile, took over the investigation of the thousands of rounds of live ammunition, sealed evidence bags, murder case files and toxic chemicals abandoned in the former school building that the Free Press found unsecured this week.
"I'll take the blame, but you can bet I'll put measures in place to make sure it doesn't happen again," Godbee said Friday.
Mayor Dave Bing, who fired Evans for reasons unrelated to the lab and appointed Godbee as chief, doesn't plan to discipline Godbee, mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas said.
Evans wanted evidence at HQ
The abandoned building in Brush Park that once served as a Detroit police crime lab was guarded 24-7 -- with two officers always on duty -- when former Police Chief Warren Evans took office in July 2009, Evans said Friday.
But Evans said he ordered the operation closed and all evidence moved to police headquarters before Mayor Dave Bing fired him last July. The responsibility to oversee the move fell on then-Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr., who was appointed chief in September.
Though the city decommissioned the lab in 2008, police still used the former elementary school as a collection and transfer point for crime scene evidence before it was sent to the Michigan State Police crime lab, Evans said.
"It wasn't supposed to be a place where evidence was stored," Evans told the Free Press. "We weren't in the crime lab business at that point. Evidence came in from officers that would be tagged, cataloged and taken by van to the Michigan State Police. It was a central transfer point, an accountability point."
Concerned that the building took at least eight officers to guard round-the-clock, Evans said he ordered all evidence in the building taken to police headquarters at 1300 Beaubien, a secure building with plenty of available space.
Evans said police still were moving evidence from the building, which opened as a crime lab in 1987, to headquarters when he was fired for reasons unrelated to the lab.
"My directive was to move the evidence to headquarters ... and close that place down," Evans told the Free Press. "I don't think the work was over. ... I directed the guy who is now chief to get it done.
"That's where I left it. I don't know how that was followed up on," Evans said.
Godbee said Friday that he regrets not ensuring the building was empty of evidence and live ammunition.
"As the assistant police chief then, I should be held accountable," Godbee said.
Mayor Dave Bing, impressed with Godbee's work so far, plans to keep the chief in his position, mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas said.
"The chief has recognized there was a breakdown and is committed to identifying what happened and why it happened," Dumas said Friday.
After Godbee called for an internal investigation Thursday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy demanded that the probe be handled by the State Police. "This is not something that the Detroit Police Department should be doing," Worthy said, citing a potential conflict of interests.
Worthy said she also asked the State Police to investigate a possible break-in at the problem-plagued former lab, where a window was broken and the front door left open until the Free Press began making inquiries this week.
Capt. Monica Yesh, who commands state troopers in southeast Michigan, said detectives walked through the building Friday to begin their investigation. The building is secured with 24-hour patrols now, Yesh said.
"At this time, we've been asked to investigate the breaking and entering," Yesh said. "If we locate items of evidence, we'll contact Detroit police and make sure an inventory of those items is made."
Yesh said she couldn't say whether any Detroit police personnel could face charges because of the lab's condition.
"After our investigation is conducted, it would be up to Kym Worthy to make those types of decisions," Yesh said.
Already under federal oversight for excessive force, a federal monitor could be appointed to oversee the lab. U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said, "We are looking into the situation."
Legal experts predict the latest incident will give defense lawyers plenty of ammunition to file appeals. And just because the evidence sat for months in a rotting building doesn't mean it won't be admissible in court, despite claims of tainted evidence, they said.
"Obviously, the defense is going to jump all over it, but a court could say, 'Tell that to a jury,' " said Richard Friedman, an evidence expert at the University of Michigan Law School.
On the other hand, Friedman said, a court could say, "This is just too intolerable for a system of justice."
In April 2008, the State Police agreed to take over all forensic testing for Detroit police cases after quality control problems in the city's lab raised questions about the reliability of evidence, said John Collins, director of forensic science for the State Police.
"We conduct forensic testing, and when we're done, we return the evidence to them. We don't do long-term warehousing," Collins said.
Detroit police chief takes blame for abandoned evidence at crime lab
http://www.freep.com/article/20110528/NEWS01/105280393/Detroit-police-chief-takes-blame-abandoned-evidence-crime-lab?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Months before Ralph Godbee Jr. was appointed Detroit police chief last year, his then-boss, Warren Evans, ordered him to oversee the removal of evidence from the city's beleaguered crime lab so the city could close the dingy building for good.
Despite that responsibility, Godbee, who was then assistant police chief, acknowledged to the Free Press on Friday that he failed to ensure material was removed from the Brush Park building as skeletal police staffing there was reassigned.
What police left behind has shocked judicial experts and raised a host of questions about the validity of evidence stored at the lab -- and increased calls for federal oversight of Detroit evidence handling. "We are looking into the situation," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said.
State Police, meanwhile, took over the investigation of the thousands of rounds of live ammunition, sealed evidence bags, murder case files and toxic chemicals abandoned in the former school building that the Free Press found unsecured this week.
"I'll take the blame, but you can bet I'll put measures in place to make sure it doesn't happen again," Godbee said Friday.
Mayor Dave Bing, who fired Evans for reasons unrelated to the lab and appointed Godbee as chief, doesn't plan to discipline Godbee, mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas said.
Evans wanted evidence at HQ
The abandoned building in Brush Park that once served as a Detroit police crime lab was guarded 24-7 -- with two officers always on duty -- when former Police Chief Warren Evans took office in July 2009, Evans said Friday.
But Evans said he ordered the operation closed and all evidence moved to police headquarters before Mayor Dave Bing fired him last July. The responsibility to oversee the move fell on then-Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr., who was appointed chief in September.
Though the city decommissioned the lab in 2008, police still used the former elementary school as a collection and transfer point for crime scene evidence before it was sent to the Michigan State Police crime lab, Evans said.
"It wasn't supposed to be a place where evidence was stored," Evans told the Free Press. "We weren't in the crime lab business at that point. Evidence came in from officers that would be tagged, cataloged and taken by van to the Michigan State Police. It was a central transfer point, an accountability point."
Concerned that the building took at least eight officers to guard round-the-clock, Evans said he ordered all evidence in the building taken to police headquarters at 1300 Beaubien, a secure building with plenty of available space.
Evans said police still were moving evidence from the building, which opened as a crime lab in 1987, to headquarters when he was fired for reasons unrelated to the lab.
"My directive was to move the evidence to headquarters ... and close that place down," Evans told the Free Press. "I don't think the work was over. ... I directed the guy who is now chief to get it done.
"That's where I left it. I don't know how that was followed up on," Evans said.
Godbee said Friday that he regrets not ensuring the building was empty of evidence and live ammunition.
"As the assistant police chief then, I should be held accountable," Godbee said.
Mayor Dave Bing, impressed with Godbee's work so far, plans to keep the chief in his position, mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas said.
"The chief has recognized there was a breakdown and is committed to identifying what happened and why it happened," Dumas said Friday.
After Godbee called for an internal investigation Thursday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy demanded that the probe be handled by the State Police. "This is not something that the Detroit Police Department should be doing," Worthy said, citing a potential conflict of interests.
Worthy said she also asked the State Police to investigate a possible break-in at the problem-plagued former lab, where a window was broken and the front door left open until the Free Press began making inquiries this week.
Capt. Monica Yesh, who commands state troopers in southeast Michigan, said detectives walked through the building Friday to begin their investigation. The building is secured with 24-hour patrols now, Yesh said.
"At this time, we've been asked to investigate the breaking and entering," Yesh said. "If we locate items of evidence, we'll contact Detroit police and make sure an inventory of those items is made."
Yesh said she couldn't say whether any Detroit police personnel could face charges because of the lab's condition.
"After our investigation is conducted, it would be up to Kym Worthy to make those types of decisions," Yesh said.
Already under federal oversight for excessive force, a federal monitor could be appointed to oversee the lab. U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said, "We are looking into the situation."
Legal experts predict the latest incident will give defense lawyers plenty of ammunition to file appeals. And just because the evidence sat for months in a rotting building doesn't mean it won't be admissible in court, despite claims of tainted evidence, they said.
"Obviously, the defense is going to jump all over it, but a court could say, 'Tell that to a jury,' " said Richard Friedman, an evidence expert at the University of Michigan Law School.
On the other hand, Friedman said, a court could say, "This is just too intolerable for a system of justice."
In April 2008, the State Police agreed to take over all forensic testing for Detroit police cases after quality control problems in the city's lab raised questions about the reliability of evidence, said John Collins, director of forensic science for the State Police.
"We conduct forensic testing, and when we're done, we return the evidence to them. We don't do long-term warehousing," Collins said.