Hoo boy: Colorado's top government DNA analyst allegedly "manipulated evidence for years," possibly affecting more than 600 criminal cases
· Mar 12, 2024 · NottheBee.com

Things not looking great for Colorado right now:

Colorado's star DNA scientist intentionally manipulated evidence for years, calling into question all of the criminal cases she worked on in her nearly three-decade career, according to a preliminary investigation released by officials Friday.

Yvonne "Missy" Woods, who helped solve some of the state's most notorious crimes, abruptly left her post last November after the Colorado Bureau of Investigation discovered anomalies in her work and initiated a criminal probe. The internal inquiry released Friday asserts that Woods, long one of the bureau's most respected analysts, purposefully altered DNA testing results.

"Nearly three-decade career."

Thirty years is a long time. You can get through a lot of criminal cases over a career that long!

And this lady did: Her alleged manipulation "affected at least 652 cases she handled between 2008 and 2023," while the "total could end up being higher."

The investigation did not find any evidence of fabricated DNA samples; rather it determined that Woods "omitted material facts in records, tampered with DNA testing results, and violated a variety of lab policies including quality-control measures."

The full extent of the damage could be massive: State officials "previously said they would need to retest and review a total of about 3,000 DNA samples handled by Woods."

And yes, the chaos is playing out exactly as you'd expect it might:

Defense lawyers have been in touch with clients who were convicted based on Woods's findings and now want to file appeals. State lawmakers recently allocated $7.5 million to help pay for retesting and potential retrials.

Courtrooms in Colorado going to be looking like:

Experts, meanwhile, say the apparent scandal "could potentially be one of the largest in the history of forensic DNA testing.."

Stay tuned, folks, this one's gonna land big.


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