NY State Police DNA Lab Sued by Staff Critical of Testing
Three scientists who worked at the New York State Police crime lab are suing the agency, alleging administrators retaliated against them for finding flaws in processing DNA evidence and pushing for a new test that would have identified errors.
Shannon Morris, Melissa Lee and Kevin Rafferty are seeking unspecified damages in federal court. They’re citing blowback for supporting the statistical analysis called TrueAllele that state police began implementing then rejected.
DNA genetic material is used to match suspects and crime scenes.
The three scientists say “a small percentage” of evidence used to convict suspects would actually have exonerated them.
Morris was the associate lab director until fired last year.
Lee and Rafferty faced disciplinary proceedings but still work there.
A state police spokeswoman declined to comment on pending litigation.
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