LONG WAIT FOR TEST RESULTS CAN MEAN JUSTICE IS DELAYED

RALEIGH -- DNA samples from 46 Duke lacrosse players glided through
testing at the state crime lab in just 12 days.

The case -- in which a dancer who performed at a party said she was
raped by lacrosse players -- had drawn national attention. Most cases
get little attention beyond local law enforcement offices and court systems.

And in most cases, lawyers and investigators say, evidence sent to
the State Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory takes months to process.

The number of analyses handled by the crime lab has grown by the
thousands in the past six years. The number of analysts hasn't grown
at the same pace, slowing testing and frustrating investigators,
prosecutors and defense lawyers.

Gerald Beaver, a Fayetteville criminal defense attorney, said he has
known innocent people charged with a crime who sat in jail waiting
for the state lab to return evidence that cleared them. On the flip
side, he said, he has heard of guilty people waiting for trial who
have gotten out of jail because a judge decided they were waiting too
long for evidence to be processed.

Beaver said he was amazed at how fast the lab finished DNA testing in
the Duke lacrosse case.

"That just doesn't happen very often," he said.

DNA tests normally take the lab 60 days to complete, said Jerry
Richardson, the lab's director.

To Richardson, the growth in cases is both frustrating and gratifying.

The more evidence the lab tests, the more cases the analysts help
solve. Advancements in chemistry and computer technology have
broadened forensic testing.

In no area is that more true than DNA testing.

But the same number of analysts can't keep up with an increasing
workload. From 2004 to 2005, the number of cases grew by more than
3,500 -- more than 9 percent.

Noelle Talley, spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice, said
the lab has added 30 analysts since 2003 to deal with the increase in
cases, but those experts are a fraction of what the lab needs.

This legislative session, she said, the State Bureau of Investigation
plans to ask legislators to put money aside for six new chemists to
test drugs, two analysts to test DNA and two analysts to work cases
involving computer crimes.

The lab also is expanding a satellite lab in Asheville to deal with
drug cases and is expanding its DNA section in Raleigh.

While DNA testing has "exploded," according to Richardson, it is only
a small part of what the lab does.

Analysts test handwriting, bullets, fingerprints and arson debris.
They match handprints and examine paint particles. They compile and
maintain databases of fingerprints, DNA samples, shoes and tires.

More than 70 percent of the cases involve drugs, Richardson said.

Deena Koontz, who supervises the lab's drug testing section, said the
growing methamphetamine problem has put a big burden on analysts.

Chemists can analyze a baggie of marijuana in 30 minutes. Drugs and
pieces seized from a meth lab take about 40 hours to analyze.

Meth lab seizures have gone from a trickle to a flood. In 1999, the
state crime lab analyzed evidence from five meth labs. In 2004, that
had climbed to 213.

Koontz said the same number of analysts can't keep up with the increased work.

The section that tests drugs has room for 28 chemists, Koontz said.
Eight of those positions are vacant. Five people are in training, she said.

The General Assembly approved money for 17 new analysts for the lab
last year. Three were hired earlier this month; 11 positions become
effective June 1.

But while those new analysts are training -- which can take up to 18
months -- new cases will continue to come in.

And people waiting for evidence testing -- investigators, lawyers,
crime victims and the accused -- are getting answers slowly.

"It delays our investigation," said Sgt. Kelly Hart, a detective with
the Fayetteville Police Department. "For example a rape kit, or
something of that nature that we're waiting for results on, it does
delay our investigation because we're waiting on that piece of
evidence, and that piece of evidence may be the piece we need to
finish that case."

Beaver, the criminal defense lawyer, said he does not blame the SBI
for the backlog, but is concerned because delays have been a problem
for about five years and things do not seem to be improving.

"In fact, I see the tunnel growing deeper and the light growing
dimmer," he said. "What is the what is the old saying? Justice
delayed is justice denied? It certainly seems that way in these cases."