Mislabled Houston Crime Lab Evidence Includes 28 Death Cases

KPRC in Houston reports: "Dozens of death penalty cases are included in boxes of evidence that were mislabeled and improperly stored in the Houston Police Department's Crime Lab, Local 2 reported in an exclusive story Thursday.

  Since August, police have been cataloging the contents of 280 boxes of untagged evidence discovered in the HPD lab.

  So far, officials have identified evidence in about 8,000 cases. Twenty-eight of those resulted in death sentences. The capital murder cases were tried between 1980 and 1986, before DNA testing became standard procedure.

   Out of the 28 capital cases involved, 20 of the convicted criminals have already been put to death. One died from natural causes. Seven are still on death row. Their executions have not yet been scheduled." [Jack Chin]