Special report: OSP crime lab scandal already spurs changes

It’s a scandal that’s hitting in the heart of Oregon’s justice system. Nika Larsen, a forensic analyst with the Oregon State Police crime lab in Bend, is suspected of tampering with evidence.

As the criminal investigation into Larsen continues and officials debate whether charges should be filed on a state or a federal level, experts have called for an overhaul of our forensic science labs across the state.

OSP finished their internal investigation last week and have forwarded their findings to state officials.

At the OSP crime lab in Bend, lab Director Brian Medlock makes sure that evidence is handled properly.

“First I make sure that paperwork matches the evidence and the evidence seal is intact. Then I will begin my analysis,” Medlock said.

After an analyst is done with examining evidence, another analyst looks at it through a technical review process.

There also are safeguards in the hiring process, as you’d expect.

“There’s a background check on everyone, and then we have a thorough and extensive training program,” Medlock said.

The background checks are thorough. A former OSP forensic analyst said state police called his friends and family and even people he knew in high school to verify information.

With all the precautions in place, and the investigation results still not public, many are left wondering how this scandal could have happened.

“This isn’t one little mistake that happened,” said Aliza Kaplan with the Oregon Innocence Project.

The Oregon Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization out of Portland that has assisted Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel in reviewing cases affected by an earlier scandal at an OSP crime lab. Back in 2005, a forensic analyst was suspected of giving wrongful testimony.

“The Oregon Innocence Project believes the behavior of both of those analysts on every single case that they’ve worked on needs to be reviewed,” Kaplan said.

That is exactly what DAs across the state are doing. Piles and piles of affected cases are towering on Hummel’s desk.

At first, there were 502 cases in Deschutes County alone. Then it came to light that Larsen is suspected of not only taking drugs out of evidence in cases assigned to her, but did so in other cases as well. Now Hummel is looking at all cases handled by the Bend lab.

“The scope of this alleged crime is massive,” Hummel said.

He estimate he is now reviewing about 1,000 cases, a process that will take him six months to a year. Umatilla County is another crime lab hit hard with over 1,000 cases. Hummel is focusing on drug related cases.

“I have absolutely no evidence that anyone at the Oregon State Police tampered with any non-drug evidence,” Hummel said.

They’re looking at all cases during Larsen’s employment, which started in 2007 at the Springfield lab. She also worked at the Ontario and Pendleton labs before coming to Bend in 2012. She was placed on paid administrative leave on Aug. 27 of this year.

“We also want to make sure that this is the only person involved in criminal conduct,” Hummel said. “That’s our working assumption, and then you test it. Was anyone helping her? To be determined.”

Kaplan said all policies and procedures of all crime labs in Oregon should be reviewed.

“It shows us that (for) our crime labs, it’s difficult to have confidence in any work that they do,” she said.

OSP officials did not want to release their policies and procedures at this time, citing the ongoing investigation.

However, NewsChannel 21 obtained a sworn statement by OSP Captain Theodore Phillips before the Umatilla County Court last Thursday. It said that all forensic analysts who have had access to the evidence lockers have always been documented and tracked with a key log.

Hummel said access to evidence is still not restricted enough.

“We have evidence that the suspect in this case (Larsen) would go into the lab late night, late weeknights and on weekends when nobody else was in the lab, and that she had unfettered access,” Hummel said.

Since the Larsen scandal erupted, OSP already has changed some of its policies.

According to Phillips’ affidavit, analysts no longer will have direct access to the main evidence locker. A minimum of two staff members will now be involved whenever controlled substances are being accessed — and no more than two pills will be submitted to the labs for analysis.

“When I saw the deficient controls in the crime lab, I wasn’t shocked (about the scandal),” Hummel said. “I was surprised it hadn’t happened before.”

He said while those changes are necessary, more needs to be done — and he isn’t alone. Many experts have called for a complete overhaul of the system.

“Crime labs should be independent and should not be a part of our state police,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan said the Houston crime lab in Texas is the model.

“Because it’s independent, it’s run by scientists, and because it has the Texas Forensic Science Commission over it,” Kaplan said.

The move came after Houston went through their own forensic analyst scandal in 2005 — and they’re not the only ones. Twenty states and the FBI have had similar troubles arise.

In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences wrote a scathing review of crime lab policies across the country, and recommended changes. But most states did little or nothing to address the problem, including Oregon.

Oregon is one state of many that do not require crime labs to be accredited. OSP voluntarily signed up to be accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors.

“The problem with the ASCLD accreditation is that it’s a checklist — and they know when they’re coming to visit,” Kaplan said.

Now, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has put together a task force to look into OSP crime lab policies and procedures.

“It’s a great first step — and obviously the governor is taking it seriously, which is a huge first step,” Kaplan said. “However, we definitely want to see more, and we hope it will come out of this work group.”

Hummel said the good thing about this scandal is that we have the opportunity to make changes to our system.

“It gives us a chance to look behind the curtain and see what was really going on,” Hummel said. “If this suspect didn’t come to light, these deficient policies and procedures would have continued.”

Kaplain said the scandal is affecting all Oregonians, not just those in the justice system.

“All stakeholders and all Oregonians should care that our criminal justice system is just, is convicting the right people,” Kaplan said. “And a huge part of that in today’s world is that crime labs are getting the science right.”

For Hummel, it’s all about making the necessary changes.

“Now we can have a crime lab in Oregon that can be the best crime lab in the country. We don’t have that right now,” Hummel said.