Attorney general suspends some work at N.C. crime lab

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The outside investigation of the state crime lab has led North Carolina's attorney general to suspend the six-agent unit that analyzes bloodstain patterns.

Attorney General Roy Cooper said Friday that he asked the two former assistant directors with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who are investigating the lab to review cases involving bloodstain pattern analysis. They agreed that the unit's work should be suspended temporarily until all issues have been reviewed, Cooper said.

"The merits of blood spatter have been debated in a number of court cases, and I think it's essential that the SBI pursue all available training and certification for that type of investigation," Cooper said in an interview Friday.

Cooper declined to say what cases had prompted his concern, saying he wanted to wait until the outside investigators report on their findings. Their contract runs through the end of the year. He did say he was not aware of any other crime lab units whose work might warrant suspension.

The effect of the suspension on cases wasn't immediately clear. Cooper said the analysis isn't used that frequently.

The lab is part of the State Bureau of Investigation, where Cooper named a new director Thursday. He replaced Robin Pendergraft, who has defended the SBI and the lab over the outside investigation, with Greg McLeod, his legislative liaison.

McLeod takes over next week. Cooper said it will be up to him and the outside investigators to decide when the lab will begin bloodstain analysis again.

The News & Observer of Raleigh first reported the suspension in Friday's editions.

Cooper sought the outside investigation by Mike Wolf and Chris Swecker after an SBI agent testified at a groundbreaking innocence hearing that the SBI didn't always provide reports of all blood tests to the courts.

Agent Duane Deaver testified at the hearing in February for Greg Taylor that the SBI had a policy of writing on lab reports that a test showed "chemical indications for the presence of blood" even when a follow-up test didn't confirm that result.

The Associated Press later confirmed Deaver's testimony in memos acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request. And Pendergraft also confirmed that the policy on the wording of lab reports had existed before she took over the SBI in 2001.

Identifying a substance as blood is separate from bloodstain pattern analysis, where investigators try to determine factors such as where an assailant stood during an attack.

Deaver, however, is among the six agents the SBI listed Friday as being certified to conduct bloodstain pattern analysis. SBI spokeswoman Noelle Talley had said earlier this year that Deaver no longer worked as an SBI blood spatter expert and had the title of criminal specialist in the investigation and training support division.

She said Friday that she couldn't answer whether Deaver's work as a criminal investigative analyst involved bloodstain pattern analysis or training those who do such work.