IG to monitor review of Nassau crime lab

The state inspector general plans to keep the pressure on Nassau officials to implement her recommendations for the now-shuttered crime lab and said problems at the facility ran so deep she felt an obligation to the public to demand a thorough review of past evidence.

Ellen Biben, who issued a scathing report Thursday on the lab's failings, intends to monitor how the county will carry out her call for an expanded review of evidence in all categories -- including ballistics, evidence left at a crime scene and questioned documents, such as forgeries.

A Biben spokesman said on Friday that she could issue a second report if county officials do not promptly follow her suggestions.

Biben told Newsday her report called for the review because the probe found numerous examples of sloppy work that could affect criminal cases -- problems so widespread that the public could not be assured of adequate reforms without a re-examination.

"Our investigation found pervasive problems that went to the core of basic lab function," Biben said. "This created an environment where mistakes were more likely to occur and less likely to be discovered."

Biben's office will closely monitor efforts to carry out the recommendations, a spokesman for the inspector general said.

Along with flawed testing, the 184-page report found that lab supervisors did not maintain quality-assurance standards and police and county officials failed to confront and identify problems that arose shortly after the lab opened in 2003.

The lab, which was operated by the police department, was closed by county officials Feb. 18 after it was put on probation for a second time by a national accreditation board. Biben's investigation began soon after.

Retesting of drug evidence has been under way since April at a cost of $100,000 a month at a private lab in Pennsylvania.

Now Biben wants the new lab director, Pasquale Buffolino, to come up with a plan within 30 days for a broad re-examination of evidence.

It was uncertain how long the review might take or what it would cost, Biben said. She noted that it may not be necessary to retest every item of evidence, depending on Buffolino's plan.

John Byrne, a spokesman for Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, said she has already asked her appeals bureau to study Biben's recommendations to determine what they mean for her office.

"The DA has already fully implemented the inspector general's recommendations for our office by appointing liaisons to the lab and accrediting bodies," Byrne said.

Some defense attorneys have said Biben's findings could open the door to a barrage of court challenges by criminal defendants based on tainted lab evidence testing. Nassau judges have already thrown out two convictions based on unreliable testing at the lab. They are under appeal.

Biben's report also detailed the shortcomings of the lab's police employees, its director Det. Lt. James Granelle, who has been reassigned, and their supervisors in contributing to the facility's closure.

Police department spokesman Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said Biben's report is being forwarded to the department's internal affairs unit to be used in an investigation of Granelle and other police officials named in the report.

Smith did not know how long the probe would take.

With Matthew Chayes

and Robert Brodsky