National Accreditation Board Suspends All DNA Testing at D.C. Crime Lab

One of the national organizations that govern DNA laboratories has ordered the District’s new crime lab to immediately suspend all DNA casework after concluding that the lab’s procedures are “insufficient and inadequate.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser ordered the audit by the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board last month after the U.S. attorney’s office said it had discovered numerous errors in some of the lab’s DNA analyses. The audit, which was published Friday, criticized the lab’s practices and said they were not in compliance with FBI standards. It ordered “at a minimum” the revalidation of test procedures, new interpretation guidelines for DNA mixture cases, additional training and competency testing of staff.

The DNA analysts at the District’s Department of Forensic Sciences, according to the audit, “were not competent and were using inadequate procedures.” The authors of the review said the lab must begin to address the concerns within 30 days.

Legal experts say the audit could trigger a further investigation of hundreds of District criminal cases — including murder, sexual assault and gun possession cases — that have involved... see more