SFPD crime lab's DNA evidence could be tainted by concealed mistakes

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Prosecutor Rockne Harmon, pictured during the O.J. Simpson trial, says he is troubled that DA Kamala Harris concealed his report criticizing the DNA lab’s supervisor.

JP Dobrin

Deputy Public Defender Bicka Barlow first heard of a DNA sample mixup in a homicide case through a whistleblower letter.

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VIDEO: S.F. Public Defender Jeff Adachi Discusses the SFPD Crime Lab DNA Scandal

TIMELINE: Problems at the SFPD Crime Lab

FOLLOW THE PAPER TRAIL:Download and read in full documents discussed in this story.

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• Rockne Harmon
• Cherisse Boland
• Tahnee Nelson
• Trials
• Criminal Trials

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The DA's office has likewise refused to comment in writing on its apparently false statements, denying its possession of Harmon's report on Boland's handling of forensic evidence in the investigation into Brown and Wilson. Harmon says he has urged administrators at the office to release the document. "I just hope that however you write this, it leads to a revelation of the criticism I wrote," he says.

Ironically enough, following her nail-biter win over Los Angeles DA Steve Cooley, Harris made a point in her victory speech of the need to reform crime labs throughout the state. In April, she also called for "a law that makes it an automatic felony for a civilian employee of a law enforcement agency to steal or tamper with evidence." With troubling indications of distorted DNA evidence piling up in her own backyard, the state's new attorney general may soon have an opportunity to put her stated convictions to the test.