GRAND JURY QUESTIONS CRIME LAB'S INTEGRITY

The state's crime lab is in such disarray that it should be investigated by
the Legislature, a Travis County grand jury reported Friday.

In concluding its three months of service, the 299th District grand jury
sent Judge Jon Wisser a report that was critical of local and statewide
police agencies on everything from crime lab mismanagement to lack of
training and supervision of officers. It even suggested, without providing
supporting detail, that officers too frequently made drug arrests by
relying on "questionable probable cause circumstances, such as 'appearing
nervous' or having a tail light not working.''

Its most scathing comments were directed at the Texas Department of Public
Safety for "what appears to be a total lack of supervision and managerial
oversight in one of the most important crime-fighting offices within the
state of Texas'' -- the crime lab.

Gov. Rick Perry and House Speaker Pete Laney met with the grand jury last
week for a briefing on concerns about problems in the crime lab. Laney
spokesman Mark Langford said he did not know whether Laney or Perry plan to
launch an investigation, but Louis Cannatti, a dentist who served as the
grand jury's assistant foreman, said: "I left with the impression that they
were anxious that this thing get resolved and they recognized the severity
of this. Those are two pretty good public servants."

Grand juries commonly issue reports on their terms of service --
highlighting how many cases they heard and indictments they issued.
Occasionally, the reports include commentary or criticism on the criminal
justice system or social ills. But the depth and range of criticism
included in Friday's report made it rare. Some jurors later acknowledged,
however, that they were generally complimentary of local police officers.

The report, signed by the 12 grand jurors, was sparked by an investigation
into former DPS fingerprint analyst Diana Boyd Monaghan, 49. On Dec. 6, the
grand jury indicted Monaghan on charges that she falsified fingerprint
reports on evidence she never tested. Monaghan's lawyer has said he expects
her to be cleared of the charges. DPS officials said the problems outlined
by the grand jury have been corrected.

But the grand jury asked legislators to appoint a task force to investigate
the crime lab and report the findings to Travis County prosecutors because
"we are concerned that only minor corrective measures may be taken in an
attempt to prevent any further investigation,'' the report said.

"Due to the lack of integrity in connection with work performed by the
crime lab at the (DPS), there are cases at every level of law enforcement
in Texas at judicial risk,'' the report says. "Such a large number of
falsified records and the corresponding unsupervised work may be
symptomatic of a far more serious management problem that is pervasive
throughout the agency."

In February, DPS authorities notified the Travis County district attorney
of alleged irregularities with fingerprint analyses performed by Monaghan
at the agency's main lab in Austin. Monaghan resigned at that time.

The grand jury, in its indictment of the 20-year DPS veteran, said she
falsified 13 lab reports on cases including murder, sexual assault and
aggravated assault on a police officer. Prosecutors allege Monaghan falsely
reported finding no fingerprints on evidence submitted by several law
enforcement agencies -- including the Austin Police Department. In reality,
prosecutors said, Monaghan never checked the items for fingerprints.

DPS officials said they have bolstered the lab's procedures.

"Those procedures that were lacking to catch this are now in place,'' DPS
spokesman Tom Vinger said. "The crime lab now has controls in place to have
an analyst recheck evidence when no fingerprints have been found."

In the meantime, DPS officials are reviewing more than 800 cases Monaghan
worked during her time in the crime lab since 1992.

In Friday's report, the grand jury also said:

* It was concerned about the quality of work performed by investigating
officers in Austin and Travis County. While not naming specific agencies,
the report said, ``We question the degree of training officers receive when
we, as untrained individuals, see things that should have been done,
questions that should have been asked, and witnesses who should have been
interrogated.''

* "The number of drug-related cases we handled was staggering. Although we
were told that 'sting' buys and other undercover arrests are legal, there
are concerns about entrapment issues as well as the use of questionable
probable cause circumstances. . . . Perhaps a 'crack jury' could be
impaneled to handle'' drug cases.

Three grand jurors contacted Friday night were generally complimentary of
local police officers, saying they were under pressure to perform a
difficult job with inadequate resources and training.

Bill Allaway, 57, a grand jury member who described himself as an
association executive, said a "significant number'' of jurors were
concerned about undercover drug investigations, but he was not one of them.
He said officers aren't allowed to make errors that might pass in other
professions.

"They're dealing with much more sensitive issues than most of us are, so we
place greater demands on them and greater pressure on them,'' he said. "I
think we have an obligation to give them as much help as we can."

On drug arrests, grand juror Richard Moya elaborated: "I think what (grand
jurors) meant . . . is that they'll use any reason they can think of to
pull someone over, and they do it in the areas where they know there is a
lot of drug activity."

Austin Police Chief Stan Knee couldn't be reached for comment Friday night.
A police spokeswoman, Laura Albrecht, complained about being bothered with
such questions after her working hours and then said the department
wouldn't comment on a report it hadn't read.

Travis County Sheriff Margo Frasier said deputies receive close scrutiny by
supervisors, especially during undercover narcotics operations.

"We're extremely careful in our narcotics area . . . to make sure there is
actual probable cause before arrests are made,'' Frasier said. "I'd be
surprised if that (criticism) was directed at us."

Officer training is an ongoing problem for all local departments as they
struggle to retain officers in a tight job market, she said. Steve
McCleery, head of the district attorney's public integrity unit, said it
will be up to Perry and the Legislature to decide what happens next.
"There's still a lot of questions,'' he said.

Staff writers Maeve Reston and Steve Scheibal contributed to this report.