Attorney General RoyCooper stood before a bank of cameras in August and promised to fix the State Bureau of Investigation.
The agency Cooper supervised was embattled: An audit Cooper commissioned laid bare a practice of omitting test results that may have cost hundreds of defendants a fair chance in court. The News & Observer had published a series that detailed how some rogue agents and crime lab analysts bent the rules or pushed past the bounds of science to deliver answers pleasing to prosecutors.
Cooper had a plan. He detailed a checklist of fixes. He replaced the SBI's top management and promised to bring in an accomplished chief to run the lab. He settimelines for reform.
Nearly four months later, Cooper's reforms are moving slowly. Some of the promised changes now are up for debate. Others have been pushed back several months as officials say they battle technical issues and budget constraints.
The search for the new lab director is barely under way; the committee to pick the replacement met for the second time last week.
"I realize it's a tough nut to crack, but you'd think given the urgency of the situation, you'd think there would be more progress," said Tom Maher, director of the North Carolina Indigent Defense Service.
Even some district attorneys expected more.
"We're down here in the field," said John Snyder, district attorney of Union County and a Republican. "If the playbook is bad, the playbook must be fixed. And now - not when they can get to it."
SBI Director Greg McLeod urged patience.
"Our focus is not speed, but doing a methodical and quality review," McLeod said.
It's been a sluggish start, in part because of factorsCooper, a Democrat, couldn't control. His first pick as interim lab director stepped down after accepting the job. His new pick, former judge Joe John, started work at the lab a month ago.
John and other SBI officials say they are making progress and are working ambitiously to make sure the SBI is on the right course going forward. They say some reforms are taking more time than they anticipated, but John said he's pleased with his progress.
John's top priority is reviewing the lab's policies and procedures to make sure they are legally sound. So far, he and a team of three attorneys from the Department of Justice have tackled a review of policies in the drug chemistry unit, one of six sections in the lab.
At the same time, they are working to implement the most rigorous international standards that a laboratory can meet.
"That's just not something that can be accomplished overnight," John said.
Some quicker fixes are dragging on. Cooper promised to start posting the lab's policies on the department's website in September, but none have been posted to date. The new target for completion is April1. John blames technology issues he doesn't fully grasp.
McLeod said the SBI will post only current policies, not past policies that have guided the SBI for decades.
The selective posting runs against Cooper's promise of transparency, according to Joseph B. Cheshire V, a Raleigh lawyer and member of the committee selecting the new lab director.
"It doesn't give much comfort to me, nor much comfort to those people in prison who believe they were wrongly convicted," Cheshire said. "If there is nothing wrong with the policies, why aren't they publishing them?"
Little done elsewhere
Chris Swecker, the former FBI manager who audited the SBI's serology section, recommended Cooper appoint an ombudsman to field the public's complaints about the SBI's work. Cooper promised to enact all of Swecker's recommendations.
McLeod, the SBI director, promised to fill that job but couldn't say when.
In August, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called for a full audit of the lab. SBI leaders assured them that they would audit two sections and determine whether others should be checked, too.
Only the Forensic Biology Section responsible for DNA testing is undergoing an audit. McLeod and John say they have no plans to audit the firearms and tool mark section, which SBI leaders once promised to audit after questions raised by The N&O.
John said he's not certain whether the bureau will purchase cameras for microscopes to document ballistics tests.
Many labs do photograph firearms evidence, andCooper had said the SBI should consider purchasing the equipment.
"I've got to prioritize," said John. His biggest concern is the DNA section and the drug chemistry unit, since they have the most employees and handle the highest volume of cases.
Call for major audit
A comprehensive audit is necessary to root out all problems with the lab, said Mike Klinkosum, a Raleigh defense attorney who has attacked SBI misconduct in several high-profile cases.
"If they are not going to do a full-scale audit like the DAs have asked for, it tells me they are afraid of what they will find," Klinkosum said.
Seth Edwards, president of the Conference of District Attorneys, said he'll try to be patient and wait for John to conquer his list of tasks.
But Edwards, a Democrat, said he expects improvements.
"[I] have confidence in the lab, but the public, people on the street, needs to be reassured...," Edwards said. "We need to assure the public that what's coming out of the lab is good and sound."
