Bedford lab subject of science commission complaint

A complaint about a Bedford-based lab under scrutiny because of the credibility of a former lab technician is scheduled to be heard by the Texas Forensic Science Commission during its Aug. 14 meeting in Austin.

In May, the Tarrant County district attorney’s office sent out more than 180 notices to defense attorneys saying it had banned Elizabeth Feller from testifying in any future DWI cases. Feller worked as a lab analyst for Integrated Forensics Laboratories, which tests blood samples for several regional law enforcement agencies.

Tarrant County has contracted with IFL to test blood samples taken from Oct. 1, 2014, through Sept. 30, 2015, during special DWI holiday enforcement efforts.

The issue before the commission concerns the retesting of results Feller handled, Lynn Garcia, the commission’s general counsel, said in an email.

IFL officials declined to comment regarding the issues facing the lab.

“We prefer not to comment and allow the commission to do it’s work,” said Jennifer Furness, a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania-based NMS Labs, which owns IFL.

Feller told a Tarrant County DA’s office employee that before working with IFL, she had been terminated by a previous employer, but she insisted the employer never had any other issues with her work. But the district attorney's office later discovered that Feller had received a written reprimand, which she did not disclose, that was not related to her firing.

The discovery about Feller’s work record triggered the mailing out of Brady notices to defense attorneys who were handling misdemeanor DWI cases in which Feller was responsible for analyzing the blood evidence.

‘I was scapegoated’

Other attorneys say they have issues with the work of another IFL employee.

Fort Worth attorney Terri Moore said she has a pending DWI case that was handled by Cherrie Lemon, who was fired from IFL in May 2014 after company officials determined she mishandled a worksheet generated by another lab analyst.

Some attorneys allege that Lemon’s mishandling of laboratory materials caused at least 350 test results to be mislabeled.

“This lady is talking on her cellphone and joking while she’s supposed to be running tests,” Moore said. “I have a Cherrie Lemon case, and I have yet to receive a Brady notice on it. But along comes Elizabeth Feller and they are putting all these Brady notices out on her.”

Lemon said she worked with NMS (National Medical Services Inc. ) Labs in Pennsylvania when she got out of college and she was not welcome when she later transferred to IFL in Bedford. She said she made mistakes in following policy but never caused a blood sample from one person to be assigned to another donor.

“I was scapegoated,” Lemon said.

Bexar County concerns

The Bexar County district attorney’s office no longer sends blood samples to IFL because of lab errors attributed to Lemon, according to Robert Featherston, past president of the Bexar County Bar Association.

Featherston said there is a demonstrated failure to train IFL personnel in the handling of blood samples and blood tests. Blood-alcohol analysis is a scientifically proven technology and well accepted within the scientific community, but it has to be done correctly, Featherston said.

“We’re glad to see that the DA’s office has rejected a testing procedure that’s unreliable,” Featherston said.

Representatives with the Bexar County district attorney’s office declined to comment.

The disclosures about Feller were not related to the more than 4,000 Brady notices the DA’s office has sent to criminal defense attorneys after learning that the credibility of 16 officers and three breathalyzer operators had previously been brought into question.

Under Brady disclosure, named for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors must make available to the defense any exculpatory or impeaching information and evidence that is material to the guilt, innocence or punishment of a defendant.

This article contains information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Bedford lab subject of science commission complaint."