NEWS

FDLE crime-lab tampering impacting Tallahassee cases

By Jeff Burlew;
Democrat senior writer;

An investigation into whether a Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime-lab chemist in Pensacola tampered with drug evidence is already having legal ramifications on criminal cases in Leon County.

On Friday morning — a day before the FDLE convened a news conference to announce the investigation — prosecutors in Tallahassee had to ask for a continuance in the trial of a man charged with trafficking in hydrocodone because of the chemist’s involvement in the case, said State Attorney Willie Meggs.

The chemist, whose name has not been released, was traveling from Pensacola to Tallahassee on Friday morning to testify in the trial of Fred Cromartie, who was arrested Aug. 19 after hydrocodone and suspected cocaine and methamphetamine were found in his home, according to court records.

“We were concerned that our evidence was contaminated,” Meggs said. “It was not necessarily what we wanted to be doing. But it’s what we ended up having to do.”

The Cromartie case is just one of 2,600 across Florida that could be impacted by the investigation, FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey said during a news conference Saturday. The chemist handled cases from 80 law-enforcement agencies in 25 counties, including Leon, Franklin, Gadsden and Wakulla.

The investigation began after law enforcement in Escambia County discovered problems with evidence that had been processed at FDLE’s crime lab in Pensacola. In some cases, prescription pills had been switched with over-the-counter medicine. In others, evidence was missing.

Bailey, Meggs and defense attorneys all agreed that the tampering investigation could lead to charges dropped in drug cases that haven’t yet gone to trial and overturned convictions in those that have. Meggs couldn’t immediately say how many of his office’s cases could be affected.

“I think the impact is probably going to be pretty great,” Meggs said. “Every case is going to be compromised to an extent just from a general taint. I’m pretty confident defense attorneys are going to endeavor to argue that you can’t rely on this evidence.”

FDLE is investigating all cases handled by the chemist since he began working for FDLE in 2006, Bailey said. On Monday, FDLE dispatched teams from Tallahassee along with regional teams to affected law-enforcement agencies to begin physically examining evidence tested at the crime lab, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for FDLE.

“It’s massive,” she said of the investigation. “It’s a statewide effort. We’ve never had to undertake a process like this before. We’re moving as quickly as we can.”

The chemist was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, and no charges have been filed. However, he resigned Monday afternoon, FDLE officials said.

Leon Circuit Court records list Joseph Graves, a Pensacola crime lab analyst supervisor in the chemistry section, as an expert witness in the Cromartie case. Graves was hired in December 2005, according to state personnel records.

Graves responded to an email sent by the Tallahassee Democrat to his office Monday afternoon by saying, “Internal investigation — no comment.” Graves resigned on Monday. In a short resignation letter, he gave no reason for his departure but ended by saying, “Please forward any money owed to me immediately.” He earned $58,999 a year.

Plessinger said she could not confirm whether Graves is the same person under investigation for evidence tampering. She said FDLE was not naming the chemist on the advice of general counsel. She confirmed, however, that Graves was relieved of his duties on Friday and resigned Monday.

Josh Zelman, a Tallahassee criminal-defense attorney, said his office will be pulling its closed files from storage to identify all that were handled by the Pensacola lab or the chemist in question.

“We’re going to determine whether or not that analyst or that lab was involved in analyzing controlled substances in our cases,” he said. “If it turns out that either the analyst was or the lab was, we will then want to go inspect the evidence at the agency to determine whether or not it’s been tampered with. And if it turns out it has, we can file a motion for post-conviction relief.”

Zelman, an officer with the Tallahassee chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the organization will be asking all its members to conduct a review of cases to determine whether their clients could be impacted.

He said the matter could create a backlog in the courts with potential new motions, hearings and trials.

Drugs seized in the 2nd Judicial Circuit used to be tested at the FDLE crime lab in Tallahassee. However, FDLE closed the chemistry section of the Tallahassee lab last year, prompting the drugs to be sent for testing in Pensacola.