Evidence from a cap­i­tal mur­der case and sev­en oth­er cas­es test­ed for DNA by the Houston Police Department’s crime lab have been destroyed. The District Attorney’s office said that it may have to ask for par­dons in these cas­es if the defen­dants were con­vict­ed large­ly on the weight of DNA evi­dence. ​“We’re going to have to alert the judges and the defense attor­neys and eval­u­ate each case to see what we have got to sup­port the con­vic­tion with­out the DNA. If DNA played a large role, I may be writ­ing the gov­er­nor about more par­dons,” said District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal. The eight cas­es in ques­tion are among 21 feared miss­ing by pros­e­cu­tors and police who are attempt­ing to retest near­ly 400 cas­es orig­i­nal­ly ana­lyzed by the HPD crime lab’s DNA divi­sion. The depart­men­t’s poor lab­o­ra­to­ry con­di­tions and care­less prac­tices have been the focus of wide­spread crit­i­cism and led the Houston Police Department to shut down its DNA divi­sion in December 2002. (Houston Chronicle, November 5, 2003) See Innocence.

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