A new audit out in North Carolina indicates that the state's State Bureau of Investigation withheld or distorted evidence in upwards of 200 cases, involving 269 criminal defendants. For example, it appears that agents conducting blood testing - where less sophisticated tests showed the presence of blood - failed to report the results of more sophisticated tests that proved the opposite. Worse, it appears that this deceit was explicitly authorized by SBI written policy - which was in place until at least 2003. Details from the News and Observer are here. The complete report is here.
Of the 269 individuals charged in these cases, 80 are still serving sentences (and 4 of these are on death row), 3 were already executed, and five died in prison. Of course, we don't know how many of these folks were have had different outcomes if the SBI had not engaged in this misconduct. But it's hard to view this behavior as anything but criminal. It may have resulted in innocent people being convicted and incarcerated or executed. It may have fabricated proof beyond a reasonable doubt where none existed. It likely allowed actual perpetrators to run free, committing more crimes. And it undermines the credibility of a criminal justice system that already has plenty of credibility problems among the communities it polices most aggressively.
This sort of misconduct has to be treated very seriously. Officers (and their supervisors) have all sorts of reasons to distort evidence, not the least of which is that they want to win their cases. But because they are sometimes wrong and because, in any case, we believe that juries and judges - not officers - ought to be the factfinders, it is essential that officers not withhold or distort evidence.
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