SBI BACKLOG DELAYS LOCAL CASES

Suspects Working The System To Buy Time Between Multiple Arrests

When Larry Harrison Jr. shot and critically wounded Wilmington police
Sgt. Mike Fey last July, he was free on bond from drug charges filed
seven months earlier in New Hanover County.

Harrison, 21, was in turn shot and killed by Wilmington police, and
Fey continues a prolonged period of recovery.

Although he had not been convicted, Harrison remained on the streets,
at least in part, because of a backlog at the State Bureau of
Investigation Crime Lab in Raleigh. Drugs that were sent to the lab
for testing had not been processed in a timely manner.

The backlog of drug, DNA and other types of forensic evidence
awaiting testing at the SBI lab is frustrating to police who arrest
some defendants multiple times while prosecutors await evidence.
Prosecutors said suspects are using the situation to their advantage,
stretching out the time between their arrests and when they could
face actual prosecution and, if convicted, jail time.

The bottleneck has slowed progress in cases statewide, including the
stabbing death of Lynn Rubei.

The situation - caused in recent years by limited staffing, the
volume of cases and an emphasis on processing high-priority drugs
like methamphetamine - has the local criminal justice system
searching for solutions even as the SBI tries to meet the demands of
prosecutors in 100 North Carolina counties.

SBI Director Robin Pendergraft said recently that the agency is
hiring additional personnel and working on ways to shorten waiting
times. Local officials are talking about revamping procedures at the
New Hanover County courthouse that would speed up court appearances
for drug defendants and considering long-term solutions like a
regional crime lab to serve local counties.

'Pig In A Python'

Timothy Severo, who prosecutes drug-related cases for the New Hanover
County District Attorney's Office, is awash in negative numbers.

Severo awaits SBI lab results for more than 15 drug cases at least
six months old, all involving habitual felons. More than a dozen
defendants with pending cases have been arrested three or more times
for drug offenses since making bond.

"I have at least 17 habitual felons whose arrest date is prior to
August, and with the exception of three, all have made their bonds
and are back in the community. A number of them have re-offended with
drugs, firearms possession or crimes of violence," he said.

The typical wait for drug test results is 10 to 12 months. Securing a
defendant's trial date on the court calendar takes about three more
months. Severo said many drug defendants use state law to their
advantage by insisting on lab tests. Severo estimates drugs play a
role in at least 85 percent of all crimes.

"In total, you're looking at 14 months from the time someone is
arrested to the time it is resolved," he said. "They say, "'I can
use this system to buy myself some more time."

"The fundamental flaw that I can see, the pig in the python that's
jamming up the system, is the delay in getting drugs tested," Severo
said. "If we're not able to effectively and quickly prosecute people
who are arrested for narcotics, that has a corrosive effect on the
entire justice system."

Investigators also have had to wait for other testing, such as DNA
analysis. Authorities won't detail the facts behind the fatal
stabbing of 20-year-old Rubei, whose body was found in September in
her car parked near Greenfield Lake Park.

But they acknowledge that the wait for DNA results from the SBI lab
delayed their ability to make an arrest. Anthony Tyrone Greene, 22,
was charged Jan. 25 with first-degree murder in connection with Rubei's death.

"We asked them to expedite it as much as possible, but it's out of
our hands when it's another agency," Wilmington police Capt. Barry Key said.

A focus on meth More than 38,000 cases of all types were submitted
to the SBI Crime Lab in fiscal year 2004-05, compared with 36,351 in
2003-04. The lab has about 170 employees, Pendergraft said.

"Some of these include just a few pieces of evidence, while other
cases include hundreds of pieces of evidence. Sometimes a single
piece of evidence requires multiple types of analysis at the lab,"
SBI spokeswoman Noelle Talley said.

Since 2003, 30 analysts and technicians have been hired. That's still
just 'a fraction' of the personnel requests made to state lawmakers
by N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, Talley said. The General
Assembly last year approved funding for 15 new positions, with an
emphasis on methamphetamine to address the number of illegal labs
proliferating in the state.

Thirteen positions will be added at the SBI lab on June 1, including
six drug chemists, two drug chemistry technicians and four forensic
molecular technicians to work on DNA profiles. The staff of the SBI's
western lab in Asheville has been doubled from six to 12, Pendergraft said.

The SBI employed five DNA analysts in 2001. There are now 29,
Pendergraft said. On Thursday, Cooper presided at a groundbreaking
ceremony for a $5.2 million addition to the SBI lab in Raleigh.
That's just one of the improvements the agency is making that signals
a renewed commitment to speeding up the processing of evidence,
Pendergraft said.

The emphasis on metham phetamine has affected the time that can be
spent testing other drugs, Pendergraft said. Meth lab cases take an
average of 40 hours to process because of the numerous substances
used to manufacture the drug.

"They can do a cocaine case in an hour or so. If they are working
multiple meth cases, it cuts away the ability to work cocaine cases,
heroin cases, LSD cases," she said.

The ultimate goal of the SBI is to process all evidence it receives
within 30 days.

"I think the turnaround time has gotten better. Additionally, all the
district attorneys know that if they have a case coming up for trial,
they can contact the lab so we can expedite it," Pendergraft said.

Court delays because of evidence analysis are also a fact of life for
Rex Gore, district attorney for Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus
counties. It's not always easy to persuade defendants to enter a plea
offer before lab test results are in, he said.

"Defense attorneys are not going to be able to convince a client to
take a plea unless they know what the amount of the drug is and
whether we're able to prove under the law you're going to go away for
X number of years," Gore said. "It's frustrating for us, but the
lawyers are trying to do their job."

Wilmington criminal defense lawyer Thomas Hicks said the onus remains
on the state to improve the situation at the SBI lab.

"I think they have to put the money behind what they're saying and
work the cases the way they're supposed to be worked," he said.