A quiet corner of Miami Valley law enforcement is suddenly under a spotlight after a former analyst at the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory was accused of altering drug-test records. The alleged change has already helped knock out charges in at least one case and is raising fresh questions about how the lab’s work is reviewed.
Defense attorneys say the analyst is accused of editing a presumptive drug-test entry so that it matched a later confirmatory result, a move they argue could force a second look at other files she touched.
According to an internal review obtained by WLWT Investigates, confirmatory gas-chromatograph testing still backed up the lab’s ultimate conclusions in the flagged case. The review, however, noted a discrepancy in an earlier presumptive entry that investigators say was changed after the confirmatory test came in. The analyst resigned before a formal probe began, and defense attorney Bill Gallagher told WLWT that two counts tied to the VIP Smoke Shops prosecution were dismissed because of the discrepancy.
Defense Attorneys Call For Wider Review
Defense lawyers say the issue is not just about one lab entry, but about whether the analyst’s entire body of work can be trusted…