JUDGE DENIES REQUEST IN POLICE LAB CASE

Ex-Employee Says Drug Tests Were Botched; Public Defender Seeks Information

A Prince George's County judge yesterday rejected a public defender's
request for information on whether police botched drug tests used in
criminal cases. The judge said he first wanted to hear from the chemist who
made the initial complaints.

Circuit Court Judge E. Allen Shepherd ruled that the public defender's
office had to produce former police lab employee Kellie Lynn Campbell in
order to proceed with its motion. It was Campbell's allegations about
irregularities in drug testing that led four assistant public defenders to
seek information about lab practices as part of the 90 adult and juvenile
drug cases they are now handling.

"We're not going to proceed beyond this point unless you produce Kellie Lynn
Campbell," Shepherd said, adding that Campbell's claims are "the whole basis
of the motion."

County Public Defender Joseph M. Niland said he did not subpoena Campbell or
request that she appear at yesterday's hearing because there was no legal
need to do so. He said he may seek to have her testify later.

Some of Campbell's claims have been buttressed in a report submitted by
Walter F. Rowe, a professor of forensic sciences at George Washington
University, that is now part of the file in Campbell's civil case.

Campbell is suing the county, alleging she was fired from her job as a
chemist in March because she spoke out about problems in the lab. She hired
Rowe as an expert witness. He found serious problems in the standards and
procedures used by the police drug lab, which call into question the
validity of test results.

Defense attorneys, prosecutors and police officials packed yesterday's
hearing room because of the high stakes involved: Hundreds of drug cases
could have been in jeopardy because of Campbell's allegations.

After meeting with Campbell in recent weeks, Niland alleged that prosecutors
knew of possible improprieties in the police drug lab dating from November,
when Campbell came forward with her allegations.

Niland accused prosecutors of failing to notify defense attorneys about the
allegations as they are required to by law.

Moments after Shepherd's decision, State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson, who
attended the hearing, said: "I'm disgusted, and really insulted, that these
allegations keep coming in without any basis. To make broad, sweeping
allegations accusing us of impropriety is outrageous. The judge is
absolutely correct."

Niland later shot back: "We are entitled to challenge the conclusions of
anyone in the lab. How can we do that without having access to the
information they relied on to reach their conclusion? I think it's so
simple, it's over his [Johnson's] head."

The public defender also criticized the judge's ruling. "As far as I'm
concerned, this was a non-hearing," Niland said.

"He's going to tell us who we have to call as witnesses? Where's he coming
from? He doesn't have any right to tell us how to put on our case."

The lab, at police headquarters in Landover, tests samples in about 3,000
cases a year, according to police. The state's attorney's office prosecutes
about 1,200 felony drug cases and about 6,000 misdemeanor drug cases annually.

Campbell was scheduled to testify in a drug case last Nov. 4, according to
her lawsuit against the county.

Just before the trial began, Campbell told three prosecutors that she could
not vouch for the test results showing the substance in question was
cocaine, and she also reported problems with other test results, according
to the lawsuit.

Campbell told prosecutors that, from March through July, lab director John
Porter improperly calibrated various pieces of forensic equipment, making
the drug analysis results unreliable in many instances, and refused to
acknowledge any of the equipment had malfunctioned, according to Campbell's
lawsuit.

Porter had ordered her not to re-test any drug samples, according to
Campbell's lawsuit.

Prosecutors dropped the drug case Campbell was scheduled to testify in.
Police internal affairs investigators eventually found Porter had committed
no wrongdoing and determined that Campbell had lied to prosecutors and had
failed to prepare for the drug case that was dropped.

Although Campbell hopes to use the report of Rowe, the George Washington
University professor, to support her case, county attorneys have requested
that U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. exclude him as an expert
witness.

County attorneys did not challenge Rowe's findings but wrote that his report
is not relevant to Campbell's lawsuit alleging employment discrimination and
violation of her First Amendment rights.