BACKLOG AT CRIME LABS AFFECTS RIGHTS TO A SPEEDY TRIAL

One of the constitutional guarantees regarding justice is the right
to a speedy trial. In a growing number of cases, it appears that right
is being endangered by the sluggishness of the state's crime labs. Not
only is evidence regarding felony cases - many of which involve drugs
- - backed up, coroners are having difficulty completing autopsies
because they have not received blood work back from the labs.

This is a situation that must be remedied. Kentucky law mandates that
people charged with felonies can be held 60 days before an indictment
- - which often depends on evidence processed at a state crime lab - is
required. If no indictment is issued, those charged must be released.
There currently are 50 cases in Warren County alone that are in danger
of being dropped because of the backlog.

Cases involving crimes of the most serious nature such as rape and
murder are being held up as courts wait for test results. But nowhere
is the problem more evident than in drug cases.

As growing communities like Bowling Green put more police officers on
the street, more arrests will be made. A majority are likely to be
drug cases, which will mean even more evidence will be landing in the
six Kentucky State Police crime labs as prosecutors need test results
to prove the involvement of illegal drugs. That will add to a workload
that already includes a huge backlog that includes evidence for 7,000
drug cases.

Clearly, six labs are not enough. It is time the legislature build a
new lab, and Bowling Green is the logical place to put it.

While the Kentucky legislature approved $1 million this year for lab
support, it's likely that will provide only a temporary easing of the
situation. With labs already backed up and new cases coming in all the
time, the state should make providing more chemists a high priority.

To find money, perhaps some of the millions of dollars of unnecessary
personal contracts it pays out each year could be redirected toward
more crime labs and scientists to work in them.

No one wants sloppy work done at the crime labs. But without more
efficient and timely results, criminals who need to be behind bars
will go free and justice will have been delayed and, in some cases,
denied.