Analyst Is Fired for DNA Mishaps

The private laboratory that conducted DNA testing in the O.J. Simpson murder trial has fired an analyst who mishandled DNA data in 11 recent Los Angeles Police Department investigations, authorities said Thursday.

Officials with Germantown, Md.-based Orchid Cellmark notified local police and prosecutors in September that they were retesting work by one of their analysts, who was identified by company officials as Sarah Blair.

Blair, they said, engaged in “professional misconduct” by improperly substituting control samples that are the scientific basis for comparison with actual DNA evidence.

“It wasn’t contamination, it wasn’t tampering with any suspect samples,” said Paul Kelly, chief executive of Orchid BioSciences Inc. “We’ve re-analyzed all the suspicious cases and, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no material impact on the outcomes of any proceedings.”

Steve Johnson, head of the LAPD’s Scientific Investigations Bureau, said Blair handled 27 cases for the LAPD, 11 of which later showed evidence of suspect analysis.

Johnson said that in those cases, Blair improperly substituted DNA data used as a control for the analysis of the crime scene evidence. To provide an effective basis for comparison with DNA evidence, control samples should not deviate. Johnson said such conduct is “unacceptable in any laboratory.”

Orchid Cellmark, the world’s largest private DNA testing firm with labs in Maryland, Texas, Tennessee and Britain, has analyzed evidence in such high-profile cases as those involving O.J. Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey, the Unabomber and the Green River serial killer.

Prosecutors identified four unsolved crimes and three pending cases involving DNA evidence linked to Blair’s work.

The most prominent involves long-haul trucker Julian Beltran, who is awaiting trial in the 2002 slayings of his estranged girlfriend and their two daughters.

Though she called Blair’s actions wrong, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Kahn said there would be no impact because DNA evidence itself was not compromised.

“There is nothing wrong with any of the evidence in any of these cases,” Kahn said. “These cases will proceed to trial and I don’t expect for them to be affected in any way.”

But Jennifer Friedman, forensic science coordinator of the Los Angeles County public defender’s office, said the case points up larger issues -- and potential shortcomings -- as use of DNA in criminal cases expands.

“People have to understand that this was human error and there are lots of human components to DNA testing,” Friedman said.

“There always will be errors, no matter how automated these systems become,” she said.

Friedman said that Blair had done work at the lab for 10 months and that her case pointed up failures in the peer review process and quality control.

But Kelly said that the company’s policies and procedures worked because Blair’s “professional misconduct” was discovered from within.

The irregularities at the lab were first reported by the Baltimore Sun.