Here is a batch of letters about The N&O's SBI series "Agents' Secrets." Some of these letters will be on tomorrow's Editorial page, some will be in Sunday Forum this Sunday and others are online-only.
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Here is a scene from a lost episode of “The Andy Griffith Show”:
Andy: Where’s Otis? He’s gone, and there’s some kind of stain on the floor of the cell.
Barney: Don’t rightly know.
Andy: Barn, ring Sarah and tell her to get the SBI Crime Lab on the line .
Aunt Bee (on phone): SBI Crime Lab. Aunt Bee speaking.
Barney: I didn’t know you were working for the SBI.
Aunt Bee: Why, yes, Barney, they put me in charge of the Crime Lab, and I moved it to my kitchen.
Barney: Aunt Bee, can you come on over to the jail? Otis is gone, and there is some kind of stain in his cell.
Andy (as Bee enters jail): Aunt Bee, come on in and take a look at this stain.
Aunt Bee (peering at stain): It’s Otis’ blood. This stain is proof that Floyd cut Otis with his razor at 9 p.m. (Aunt Bee bends over, wipes at the stain with her finger and puts some on her tongue.)
Aunt Bee: Or maybe it’s barbecue sauce. Andy, which story do you and Barney like?
Just saying, before some of our Southerly challenged friends do!
Wallace Robinson
Raleigh
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Is that the best our Attorney General can come up with? Greg Taylor sacrificed 17 years of his life, and Roy Cooper finds the SBI review "troubling"? And, to top it off, Duane Deaver has finally been "suspended" from duty. Seems to me that AG Roy Cooper runs a rather loose ship. He's been in charge since 2001, and we have him to thank for Mike Nifong and Duane Deaver. Not a sterling record. It may be time to put aside political aspirations, Mr. Cooper, and begin to worry about your day-to-day responsibilities.
Don Coey
Raleigh
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For the scientist in the SBI lab, I would think they have forgotten the basics of criminal investigation, the evidence drives the investigation. They should be biased only to the evidence and where it leads. Not the AG, the law enforcement, lawyers, etc., but only to the evidence. The evidence is their boss and should always be. No group or person should ever be considered over the evidence.
Regardless where it leads, the evidence is the basis of the system itself. Now that very evidence may actually remove many of them from their positions as it should. Political jobs are nice work if you can get it, but when it comes to justice and the rule of law, nothing trumps the evidence.
I only wish all of them could be judged by the same lax rules and standards in which they pushed on others. Yep, the evidence will be the boss once again and this time, politics will not be an issue if there is one leader left with any common sense in the democratic party.
Ron Driver
Fuquay-Varina
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My hat is off to all those investigative reporters at The N&O who courageously unfold the inner workings of our government. Surely they must feel the same shock and remorse in writing their expose that I as a reader experience in reading them. I thank you for doing your job and doing it well.
The already long list of unfortunate spotlightees grows with each passing year. Within your hallowed walls, is there a "Wall of Shame" where the light of day always shines on the picture above and the caption below? For instance, could there be a picture of Mr. Jim Black "The Longest Fall"; Mary Easley "The Best Paying Job I Never Applied For"; Algie Toomer "One Great Severence Package"; Mike Nifong "What Was I Thinking"? Let's face it: Could one hallway accomodate all this chicanery and downright corruption?
I value your work at The N&O, but it appears that no matter how much blatant governmental nepotism, greed and stupidity you reveal to the great people of this state, we continue to elect those who are destined to shame us. To the people of North Carolina, remember this one truism told me many years ago by a wise Ukranian woman: "The fish stinks from the head down." This saying applies to any group of people where someone is called "The Boss."
We in N.C. truly need "change we can believe in.",The question is when will "WE" get it.
Richard Hall
Raleigh
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The N&O is to be heartily commended for its recent investigative forays into North Carolina's governmental excesses, lack of transparency and just plain wrong actions. As a result, I trust that our capable governor will take note of your recent editorial admonition: "Governor Perdue has been in state politics long enough to know that the bureaucrats can make mistakes, but the person who pays the price is the one whose name is on the ballot." Keep up your good works.
Bruce C. Ladd Jr.
Chapel Hill
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Thank you for doing the usual deep investigating into the SBI and its recent misdoings. I have only one question of major importance: How does an individual with a degree in communications from N.C. State University become the director of the SBI Crime Lab? On top of that, the salary is $98,481 per year.
It is no wonder the director (Jerry Richardson) has a problem explaining the policies of his laboratory. The position should have higher qualification standards than that, and probably does if the truth is known. Management degrees should be a major requirement.
It must be back to the old politics story and that is: " It is not what you know but who you know to get such high paying jobs." After working for the Raleigh Police Department for 30 years and retiring without blemishes, I feel proud to say that thank God we had CCBI, which did an outstanding job during my years of service.
A lot of changes shoud be made at the SBI Crime Laboratory as well as its leadership and now, not tomorrow, because the longer it takes the more mistakes will be made or uncovered.
Jerry D. Narron
Raleigh
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The recent expose of the SBI crime lab is just another chapter in North Carolina’s poor approach to solving vexing societal problems: Rather than excelling and leading the rest of the country by example, it is safer evidently to protect jobs and run hide. The crime lab should report to the governor and have the highest scientific and ethical standards, not be a shill for the Attorney General.
Remember the N.C. Department of Instruction decision to adopt its own test rather than a test taken by other states? We cannot look bad or be criticized about our test results…nobody else takes the test! No feathers (or jobs) ruffled here.
Another chapter in this sorry record was the recent state trooper mess. By the NC legislature passing a law that the chief has to come from inside the force, the law perpetrates the immoral and unethical behavior of the force. The new boss did it (wink wink), everything will be OK. Rather than a nationwide search for the best person to lead and reform the trooper force, we are left with the best of the rest, which may not be satisfactory for the best interests of the state.
All of these shortcomings could be more quickly sorted out without meddling from the state legislature or the Council of State. Why do we have to go through an elected director of Public Instruction or the Attorney General to sort out these problems? You might say that this is a result of a one-party system, but that is another touchy subject.
Ben Owens
Raleigh
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First I would like to congratulate The N&O for an excellent series on SBI "error." I would like to say that, as a criminal defense investigator, I have worked many homicides and dozens of lesser felonies over the years. I have not had a lot of experience with the blood and serology section. I have had a lot of experience with firearms experts.
I was extremely impressed with the unbiased and competent technical testimony of many of their agents. In particular Adam Tanner and Stephanie Barnhouse have an excellent reputation and seem to be completely neutral in their work. I mention this because while that agency as well as the Highway Patrol are justifiably under fire, I would like people to remember that they recruit from the human race and as such are subject to the same pitfalls of all human endeavor. The vast majority in both agencies, however, are honest, hard working and above reproach.
Gary A. Shaw
Defense investigator and retired police officer
Raleigh
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I want to tell you and your staff how much I have enjoyed reading the articles on the highway patrol, elections members, SBI and DMV as well as the former governor and current govonor.
It's a shame that people who are supposed to be relaiable, honest and upright allow the corruption to shame this wonderful state.
Please keep up the good reporting.
By the way, my wife and I have been faithful subscribers to The N&O for over 50 years.
William Wooten
Winterville
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Why has no one called for Robin Pendergraft’s resignation? If she had been a capable manager, she certainly would have discovered and corrected the SBI’s problems within her 10-year reign.
Now Attorney General Roy Cooper says she did a great job and moves her to another high level management position. In private industry she would have been fired long ago. I’ll bet she’ll be allowed to retire at full state pension. Just like former SBI investigator Dwight Ransome.
John Franklin
Raleigh
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“...fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way!”
Those are words from the opening of the 1950s TV show “Superman,” certainly not the description of the N.C. justice system. How can we trust the state judicial system when we have such a poorly managed SBI that its questionable tactics are almost illegal?
Over the years, it seems every state department or agency has been filled with corruption, questionable procedures, mismanagement or lack of ethics, values and morals. I want to live in a state where I can trust my government leaders and state department management.
The list of past ills and issues of individuals and departments is long. Is there not one state agency that has operated efficiently with no questionable issues in the past 10 years?
Why did The N&O need to cite what political party people belonged to in the recent SBI article? The judicial system is supposed to look for the truth, based on facts, not on politics. Maybe that’s part of the problem. People need to keep the politics on the legislative floor where it belongs, not in the justice system or state agencies.
Gary L. Jurkiewicz
Raleigh
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Over the years, I’ve read with incredulous wonder while The News & Observer chronicled the madness and mayhem of our state’s sundry law enforcement agencies, with the net effect being that it has eroded what little faith or respect I’d placed in them.
It’s most apparent that we have reached a critical mass, and North Carolina’s criminal justice system is collapsing under the weight of its own lawlessness. The malfeasance is scattered far and wide, with responsible individuals permeating every peak, plain and pocket of the system. Would that they all could be recklessly investigated, unjustly tried, cruelly sentenced and interminably imprisoned.
Only subject to their own wicked methods might these unprincipled rogues possibly comprehend the magnitude of the callous indifference they’ve demonstrated toward their neighbors, some of whom surrendered all they had, even their lives. But, alas, now there’s too great a preponderance of truth in evidence to allow for such poetic irony.
Woe betide us all.
Andrew Sleeth
Raleigh
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The proposal to make the crime lab independent is a step in the right direction. But it is not enough. The “I” in SBI stands for Investigation. Not Prosecution.
It should be the mission of the SBI (and all law enforcement) to protect the public. This is not only “getting the right man,” it is also minimizing the prosecution of innocent citizens. If failing to convict the real offender is one demerit, convicting the wrong person is at least 10.
Next to public safety, probably the most important function of law enforcement is the defeat of public and private corruption. It is hard to criticize the weeds in your neighbor’s garden if your backyard is overrun with kudzu.
David Burgess
Raleigh
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I applaud the political courage exhibited by your reporters in your series on the problems within the SBI.
The recommendations to fix the SBI’s problems are excellent, but miss that the SBI’s pro-prosecution bias is exacerbated by Superior Court and appellate court judges who are too cozy with the prosecutors. It is also made worse by prosecutors who, in spite of their ethical duties, want to win more than they want to seek justice.
Many judges lack political courage, and/or are intellectually dishonest. These judges fail in their role as gatekeepers of the evidence that is admissible in trial. They fail as a genuine check and balance in our system of justice.
These judges often turn a blind eye to the SBI’s inherent, chronic and institutionalized problems. Judges often become a spoke in the wheel of justice, sending the accused off to prison because our well-respected law enforcement officers accused the poor soul. The judges make the evidentiary rulings that let into evidence the junk science that helps the prosecutors convict the innocent. Without the acquiesce of judges, the SBI and prosecutors would be severely hampered in the negligent or intentional conviction of the innocent.
There are numerous inequities within the SBI, which deserve an intellectually honest examination and robust debate regarding the role of the SBI’s lab and analysts. Judges must be included in this analysis. Otherwise, we risk convicting an innocent person in a flawed system of justice.
Ernest L. Conner Jr.
Attorney
Greenville
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It was with ever increasing dismay and overwhelming sadness that I read about the methods employed by the State Bureau of Investigation to solve crimes.
Our daily news is filled with the crimes of murder and theft. The average citizen applauds when perpetrators are caught, prosecuted and punished. It makes one feel more secure that one will not be the victim of such wickedness.
What the SBI seems to have lost sight of is that justice is served only if the true perpetrator is caught, prosecuted and punished. No victim is satisfied with just any prosecution and sentence unless it is visited on the actual miscreant. Sending an innocent to prison harms victims as well as the larger community by letting the perpetrator continue to roam freely, able to continue to commit crime, as well as shaking one’s confidence in those who claim to seek justice on the community’s behalf.
If those who are investigating a case are willing to misinterpret the evidence, to file incomplete reports, to use unscientific methods in re-creating crime scenes, we are all at risk. Those people are themselves criminals. Who will prosecute them?
Ilona Kusa
Apex
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The recent N&O reports on the SBI crime labs show that what most of us naively thought was an objective, scientific arm of the state is actually in the pocket of the prosecution.
The tests run by the labs are often biased to benefit the prosecution. Results that might weaken the prosecution’s case are hidden. Outright deception occurs. Juries find innocent people guilty. The motto of the North Carolina justice system seems not to be innocent until proven guilty, but instead guilty because we say so.
This is a disgrace. From now on, jurors in all criminal cases should be instructed by the judge to look upon SBI lab results with suspicion. If the results from the SBI labs are the prime evidence of guilt, then they should be ignored and the defendant should be found not guilty. Tainted state’s evidence should play no part in the legal system.
Jim Luginbuhl
Raleigh
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I take a headline on your Aug. 12 front page, “Witness for the prosecution: Lab loyal to law enforcement,” to mean that the SBI laboratory is loyal not to law enforcement principles but to law enforcement agencies.
The practices of the SBI blood analysts as revealed in The N&O are very disturbing but hardly surprising given the intimate relationship between the lab and the state’s prosecutors. Their being in bed together is clearly an impediment to the justice our citizens deserve.
If Attorney General Roy Cooper won’t free the SBI lab from his control, perhaps a simple renaming of the agency is in order. May I suggest SBC: State Bureau of Conviction.
Marcel Pusey
Raleigh
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I worked for the State Bureau of Investigation for over 23 years, retiring in 2003. Having spoken with a number of current and past employees, as well as many law enforcement officers outside the agency, the common thought among many is that the SBI needs a professional law enforcement officer as its director, not another attorney recycled from the state’s Attorney General Office.
Interestingly enough, the most respected SBI director was the late Charles Dunn, a former newspaper reporter.
Until this cycle of failed leadership is fixed, the problems will persist. Although it pains me to read these articles, kudos to The N&O for seeking change and direction for the SBI.
David Ramsey
Mooresville
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We are grateful that The N&O was willing to investigate the abhorrent practices of the State Bureau of Investigation.
There are a number of criminal defense attorneys who consider these problems to be old news, however. Those attorneys have been trying to inform the public about the SBI’s faulty forensics for over a decade.
Until recently, Attorney General Roy Cooper and the SBI’s leadership have made repeated attempts to cover-up the lab’s biased forensic practices. Prosecutors have denigrated defense attorneys who attacked the SBI’s science in open court. SBI agents have even testified that DNA results from testing contaminated evidence were reliable when they were anything but.
Prosecutors are not the only ones with unclean hands, however. Superior Court Judge Knox Jenkins went so far as to report defense counsel to the bar for discipline because she accused Agent Duane Deaver of falsifying evidence in the Goode case; that judge also took judicial notice of Deaver’s impeccable reputation. Later, federal Judge Malcolm J. Howard ruled that Deaver had indeed falsified the evidence.
Thanks to The N&O’s investigative efforts, the public has now been informed about the SBI’s biased scientific practices. Simply stated, the SBI cannot be trusted to produce reliable forensic results. Now, it is the public’s responsibility to demand accountability, reliability and independence.
It is time for SBI agents and supervisors to be held accountable. Years ago, lawyers and scientists complained to ASCLD-Lab, the accrediting agency, about SBI practices. Despite the systemic nature of the problems that were reported, ASCLD-Lab did nothing to stop the SBI’s biased scientific practices, enabling them to continue to fritter away taxpayer dollars with junk science.
Although the problems are systemic, it does not excuse SBI analysts, field agent, or their supervisors from suffering consequences. Thus far, there have been none. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and fired, rather than moved to the Medicare Fraud Unit of the Department of Justice.
The Agents' Secrets report draws into question every conviction that involved the State Bureau of Investigation. How many people were convicted after testimony from SBI forensic experts? In order to guard against executing the innocent and to ensure that the heightened reliability of fact-finding afforded to capital cases under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, we call on the people of North Carolina, the legislature and the governor to commute those death row inmates sentences to life.
Finally, we hope this series will be a catalyst for creating an independent crime lab.
Diane M.B. Savage
President, N.C. Attorneys for Science and Technology
Chapel Hill
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The Alan Gell and Greg Taylor cases along with reports of rampant SBI agent misconduct and the Aug.18 Independent Review of the SBI Forensic Laboratory report confirm the obvious. North Carolina has an injustice system that demands an immediate independent investigation, analysis, reform and punishment to the perpetrators of injustice.
Albert Einstein’s quote is eternally applicable: “Foolish faith in authority is the greatest threat to truth everywhere.”
Allen R. Tew
Clayton
