FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) The Fort Worth police crime lab will resume DNA testing a decade after questions were raised about whether its tests were valid. <\/p>\n
On Monday, two forensic scientists in the lab will start working on DNA cases. Three other scientists will be trained in the coming months. <\/p>\n
The lab stopped DNA tests in October 2002 after prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in a capital murder case due to concerns raised about one of the lab's scientists. An investigation later found widespread problems at the lab, but prosecutors said no one was wrongly convicted or accused because of flawed DNA analysis. <\/p>\n
Still, the department began sending DNA samples elsewhere for testing and currently spends about $250,000 a year to do so. Grants cover other tests at the University of North Texas. <\/p>\n
An in-house lab will be cheaper and quicker, said Tom Stimpson, the crime lab director, adding that a faster turnaround can mean quicker arrests. <\/p>\n
In the past, after submitting a sample, police would have to wait one to three months to get a DNA profile to link with a suspect. <\/p>\n
\"Now, we're going to be able to do that in a week, so we can get them off the streets much sooner,\" Stimpson said. \"It saves a lot of surveillance and investigation costs.\" <\/p>\n
The DNA analysis lab has been moved into a defunct department store building that was been converted into a high-tech crime lab and property room in 2010, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported (http:\/\/bit.ly\/M496I6<\/a>). <\/p>\n Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Christy Jack, who helped investigate the old crime lab, has toured the new one and is pleased Fort Worth will resume DNA testing. <\/p>\n \"The new facility is state of the art, and I have the utmost confidence in the personnel who will be overseeing the DNA testing,\" Jack said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n See original here: FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) The Fort Worth police crime lab will resume DNA testing a decade after questions were raised about whether its tests were valid. On Monday, two forensic scientists in the lab will start working on DNA cases. Continue reading
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