Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Baltimore crime lab chief fired

|
|
 
  
Published: Aug. 21, 2008 at 10:36 PM

BALTIMORE, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Edgar Koch has been fired as chief of the Baltimore crime lab amid concerns over how the Police Department facility was run under his leadership.

Koch had run the crime lab for the past decade. Defense attorneys and forensic experts after his firing Tuesday raised questions about the state's biggest and busiest crime lab, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday.

Police spokesman Sterling Clifford said Koch was fired because of employees contaminating evidence with their own DNA and other "operational issues."

The DNA contamination did not lead to anyone being falsely accused of a crime, city officials said, but Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy said she has asked her staff to review the potential effects of the DNA contamination on open and closed cases.

"There are some concerns," Mayor Sheila Dixon said. "We don't have the details yet to know if these cases are in jeopardy, so I can't speak on that publicly yet."

The contamination was revealed after a new DNA supervisor began entering employee DNA samples into a database and comparing them against "unknown" genetic profiles found in evidence from crime scenes.

About a dozen instances out of 2,500 unknown genetic profile turned out to be that of a lab employee, Clifford said.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
High school coach retires at 65 after getting arrested nude, "aroused" in car backseat with 17-year-old...
Man arrested for stealing $25k worth of Tide detergent. Witnesses say the suspect appeared quite...
News: Two cars fighting gun battle on Interstate accidentally fire into car of innocent women. Fark:...
Dads, before showing "The Smurfs" DVD from your laptop at your kid's birthday party, make sure you...
It's a Jeep thing. You wouldn't understand
Baby shower ends with three people stabbed after a drunken argument between relatives of mom-to-be...