CHIEF: CRIME LAB NEEDS STAFF

AUBURN -- Taylor Noggle knows that science can help convict the guilty,
clear the innocent and protect the public.

Noggle, the new director of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences,
wants to make sure Alabama uses that power to its potential.

Noggle plans to ask the Alabama Legislature to nearly double the agency's
funding for next year.

The state faces budget problems, but Noggle said the increase to $24
million, up from about $14 million this year, is justified. The money would
be used to bolster staff and reduce case backlogs that add to a bottleneck
in the criminal justice system.

"We're a very small agency in the grand scheme," Noggle said. "But our role
in the court system, and what we do for police agencies in the state, is
very important."

Attorney General Bill Pryor chose Noggle as director on Dec. 18. Noggle
became acting director in September after Dr. Jamie Downs resigned.

Noggle, who has spent 32 years with the agency, worked a case in the
mid-1970s that he said shows the potential of modern forensics.

A man was arrested for assaulting and stabbing three elderly women in
Tuskegee. Two of his victims died.

On the suspect's shoes and socks, investigators found blood stains matching
the type of one victim, fibers matching a Persian rug in the house and
hairs matching the colors of a black, white and gray dog in the house.

"That was probably one of the best cases involving circumstantial evidence
I've ever been involved in," Noggle said.

It wasn't enough.

"He was tried three times and not convicted on any of the murder charges,"
Noggle said. "I look back on that and think what the prospects would have
been if DNA could be used."

The man served time on lesser charges, Noggle said. Today, DNA testing
could make that evidence almost foolproof and probably get a murder
conviction, Noggle said.

Today's technology won't work without money and manpower. Noggle said his
department has a backlog of about 2,000 DNA cases, and it's growing. "It
takes a long time to do those, and we continue to fall behind there,"
Noggle said.

Randy Hillman, executive director of the Alabama District Attorneys
Association, said it typically takes up to 18 months to process DNA results
in rape cases.

"You've got a victim out there who is trying to put this event behind her
and she can't do that," Hillman said. "She can't move on with her life and
try to put things back together unless or until the criminal case is solved."

The delays affect defendants, adding months to their wait for their day in
court.

"In certain cases, if the criminal act is egregious enough, he's going to
be sitting in a county jail on a high bond. And he'll sit there two or two
and a half years," Hillman said.

Noggle said there is a backlog of about 9,000 drug cases. It's up to
forensic chemists to identify the substances in drug convictions. Noggle
said marijuana and cocaine cases are fairly simple, but methamphetamine,
made from household products in dangerous, makeshift labs, requires
extensive testing.

Some drug tests don't yield the results prosecutors want. Noggle said it's
a misconception that state forensics labs look only for results to bring
convictions.

For example, undercover officers buying crack cocaine don't always get what
they paid for.

"Quite frequently, they buy paraffin," Noggle said with a smile. "It's
cooked up so it looks very similar."

Noggle said last year, about 28,000 of the roughly 37,000 cases forensics
handled were drug cases.

As for the new technology, the agency is building a database of DNA of
convicted felons. Since 1994, every felon convicted in Alabama must submit
a DNA sample with a swab of saliva. The database is called the Combined DNA
Index System, or CODIS.

It's linked to databases from other states. DNA samples collected from
crime scenes or other pieces of evidence can be matched with the databases
and produce suspects.

"The more samples we get in, the more cases we're solving," Noggle said. He
said use of the database has solved more than 200 crimes.

Forensic Sciences has about 50,000 offenders in the database, only about
half the number of samples it has on hand.

"We haven't had enough people to put all these profiles in," Noggle said.

Hillman helped Pryor screen candidates for director and supported Noggle
for the job. Besides Noggle's experience, Hillman said Noggle has the
ability to make legislators understand the department's importance.

"I think he'll be able to sit down with legislators and explain the
situation to them," Hillman said. "Whether or not they act on it is totally
up to them."

State Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, chairman of the House General Fund
committee, said lawmakers know that some agencies are hurting. The
Legislature convenes March 4.

"First of all, it's not just forensics, but all of our departments, from
corrections to human resources to mental health," Knight said. "Once we
come in we're going to have to take a comprehensive look at all the
budgets. There's no question they need increases. They've managed well
under the circumstances."

Noggle is eager to make his case to lawmakers and get his agency the
resources to work its mission.

"You have to love what you do," said Noggle, who works in a modest office
at the Department of Forensic Sciences headquarters on Wire Road, near the
Auburn University campus. "This has been a very big part of my life for 32
years. I've just grown to love it. I love the department. I love the people
who work for the department. I think I can try to get the message out as to
what we do. I'm not sure people know all the Department of Forensic
Sciences does."