GRAHAM -- The coming courtroom attacks on the State Bureau of Investigation were previewed Friday in Alamance County, as a defense lawyer launched a wide-ranging assault on the credibility of the SBI and its crime lab.
Scott Holmes, a Durham lawyer, was unsuccessful in his quest to postpone the murder trial of his client, Robert Broom. Holmes had asked for time to independently test firearm, computer and audio-video evidence examined by the SBI.
To make his case, Holmes detailed a litany of problems that were exposed in a recent audit and in a News & Observer series.
Superior Court Judge J.B. Allen declined to postpone the Sept. 27 trial but ordered that money be provided for Holmes to conduct expedited testing of the evidence. Allen also ordered the SBI to cooperate fully and promptly with those tests.
Broom is charged with shooting his wife, Danna, in October 2008, when she was 27 weeks pregnant. Danna Broom survived, but their daughter, Lillian Grace, was born prematurely and died after 30 days. Robert Broom is charged with the murder of his daughter, the attempted murder of his wife, kidnapping and assault.
Throughout Friday's two-hour hearing, which was pointed and contentious at times, Holmes cited an audit of the lab's blood unit that identified 230 cases potentially botched by hidden or misreported test results. He handed the judge copies of articles from the N&O series, "Agents' Secrets," that reported how analysts bent rules, hid evidence and pushed past the bounds of science to deliver results pleasing to prosecutors.
And Holmes quoted from some of the SBI's historical allies to argue that the agency can't be trusted:
From former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr.: "I'm absolutely shocked and astounded by the depth of the problem."
Wayne County District Attorney Branny Vickory: "This is mind-boggling. It is really a nightmare for everyone. I don't know how we are going to make this right."
Newly appointed SBI Director Greg McLeod: "People at the SBI lab need to be open-minded and open to criticism. If they don't get on board, they need to consider other work."
Of the N.C. Police Benevolent Association, Holmes said, "They're so mad, they want criminal charges. ... The police are angry because this jeopardizes everyone's work."
SBI analyst cited
Holmes said he is unsure whether the SBI has handed over all the firearms-related-evidence in Broom's case. Lab reports refer to gunshot residue tests, but he has yet to receive any reports. Holmes pointed out that Attorney General Roy Cooper, who initiated the audit of the blood analysis unit, has also called for an audit of the firearms section of the SBI lab. And he homed in on the SBI's firearms analyst in the case, Beth Desmond, who was the subject of an N&O article.
Desmond had testified with "absolute certainty" in a Pitt County case that two bullets were fired from the same make and model of gun.
The former chief metallurgist for the FBI, who reviewed photographs of the two bullets, questioned whether Desmond had done any analysis. "This is as bad as it can be," William Tobin said in the article. "It raises the question of whether she did an analysis at all."
Holmes went further.
"She is putting false information in the courts," he said. "She lacks the credentials and training to do her job."
An SBI computer analyst spent six weeks combing through Broom's two computers. Holmes complained that the police had outlined their theory of the case to the SBI analyst, who used key words to search through e-mails in a limited time period.
"That's the problem of police in lab coats," Holmes said. "The only thing he looked for was what would help the district attorney. ... He didn't look for stuff that helps us."
Holmes also quoted extensively from the SBI's training materials that coach lab analysts to work with prosecutors to win convictions. He promised to use those materials to question the impartiality of the lab analysts during cross-examination.
No defense of SBI
Assistant District Attorney Gene Morris did not attempt to defend the SBI. Rather, he argued that Holmes had received everything in the prosecution's file and had months to look at the evidence or try to get it independently tested. Holmes had already asked for and received a two-month delay in the trial and had signed off on the September trial date in July.
"There is not a rush to trial in this case," Morris said.
Allen agreed and left the trial set for Sept. 27.
Afterward, Danna Broom declined to discuss the case.
"I don't want this to be about the SBI," she said. "It's about Lillian Grace."
