Last night, KPRC-2 reported that an initial audit by the Texas Rangers and HPD of some 280 boxes of “forgotten and misplaced evidence” had been completed.
According to the KPRC report, which included a reaction from Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal, there were no big surprises in the evidence:
HPD asked the Texas Rangers to monitor the lab and help classify 280 boxes of previously lost evidence found in a police property room in August. Some of that evidence dated back to 1979.
The audit was completed on Feb. 28. It showed all of the evidence was available to defendants at the time of their trial.
The audit also showed that 82 percent of the evidence was properly catalogued. Most of the mistakes with the remaining 18 percent involved labeling errors, officials said.
Steve McVicker’s coverage that appeared in today’s Chronicle did not include any reaction from Rosenthal.
It is worth noting that before the Rangers stepped in to move this process along, Mayor White and Chief Hurtt had drawn criticism from several quarters, including the same Chronicle editorial board that usually serves as a PR firm of sorts for policies favored by White/Hurtt, for dragging their feet on crime lab issues. Hurtt in particular was blasted then by state legislators for stating that he was hoping to get cracking in earnest on the problem in April!
Of course, the chief has had other priorities, such as Tasers, red-light cameras, and his own uniform issues, so perhaps we should just be thankful that the Rangers were able to bail out White and Hurtt on this one.
