Deschutes DA tallies 1,019 cases to review in OSP crime lab case

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Monday he has updated the online portal he created to track his review of cases potentially affected by the involvement of an OSP lab analyst under investigation for tampering with drug evidence.

“The total number of cases that District Attorney Hummel will review is 1,019,” Monday’s update said. “To date he has completed his review in 114 cases. Of these 114 cases, Hummel recommended that convictions be set aside in five cases and the convictions should remain in 78 cases. “

Hummel said the other “31 cases were previously dismissed for reasons unrelated to the involvement of the OSP analyst in question (plea negotiations, earned dismissals per Oregon’s conditional discharge law, etc.).”

Hummel said he “will continue to update the online portal as his work progresses.” He expects to finish the task by August, at roughly 200 reviews a month.

The online portal is available at http://www.dcda.us/c5/services/osp-lab-investigation/

Hummel also told NewsChannel 21 on Monday he still does not yet know whether the investigation of former OSP crime lab analyst Nika Larsen will be handled at the state or federal level. But he added that he expects a charging decision to be made soon.