Alleged DNA evidence manipulation at Colorado's top crime lab weakening murder case outcomes; victim families, attorneys calling for CBI overhaul
Following the release of an internal affairs report detailing alleged DNA evidence manipulation spanning more than a decade at Colorado's top crime lab, prosecutors say an admitted murder suspect has received a more lenient plea deal as a result. Now, some people involved in that murder case are calling for a complete overhaul of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
"This is supposed to be the premier law enforcement agency in our state, and they've been falling down on their duty to all of us citizens," says Mary Claire Mulligan, a defense attorney in Boulder who represents some people whose cases have been and will be impacted. "It's really, really upsetting."
Mulligan is referring to the findings of CBI's internal affairs investigation into former forensics analyst Yvonne "Missy" Woods, who retired in November amid the investigation into her work over the years. According to the IA report, Woods allegedly cut corners with DNA testing for major crime cases for more than a decade.
The IA report says more than 600 cases may have been impacted by Woods' alleged DNA data manipulation. The report says she deleted some DNA results to avoid spending extra time on "the step of troubleshooting," so she could get through a larger caseload more quickly.
But Woods' work was supposed to be peer-reviewed, which was something Mulligan claims Woods used when testifying in court if details of her results were questioned.
The IA report says other CBI employees caught issues with her work in 2014 and 2018, issues employees said could not have just been written off as "human error," and yet Woods continued working for the agency.
"It's not just the cases that Missy worked on," Mulligan says. "Their managers, who are supposed to be focused on quality assurance, they're not doing their jobs. It's not working."
Mulligan says the fiasco will likely result in hundreds or thousands of people challenging their convictions for years to come.
"The fact that directors overlooked Missy Woods' bad behavior means that it has infected all of the agency," Mulligan said.
Mulligan represented Garrett Coughlin, 31, the first defendant to have had their case impacted by the concerns at CBI. Coughlin was charged with murdering three people -- Wallace "Lance" White, Kelly Sloat-White, and Emory "Lee" Fraker, during a robbery in Boulder County in 2017.
Because Woods is accused of purposely deleting data results during testing for Coughlin's case, prosecutors offered him a plea deal this month for lesser charges. He was sentenced to 42 years with the possibility of parole.
"He was convicted with life sentences with no parole, and now he's getting this sweetheart deal," said Kathy Eppler, sister of White and Fraker and sister-in-law of Sloat-White. "There's no justice in the justice system."
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty provided the following statement to CBS News Colorado:
"For the loved ones of those killed by the defendant, it has been a tortured and painful journey to today's guilty plea and the sentence to 42 years in state prison. In 2019, this case was proven at trial largely through circumstantial evidence; meaning, there was no video, no eyewitness, and no confession. After the trial, it came to light that two of the trial jurors had been less than truthful during the jury selection process. As a result, the conviction was overturned. In November of 2023, as we prepared for a second trial, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation disclosed that the DNA analyst who worked on this case had engaged in serious misconduct on this case and hundreds of others. Her conduct, as well as that of the ballistics expert from CBI, significantly impacted the evidence that could be presented at a second trial. Based on those circumstances, the guilty plea and sentence is appropriate. It will bring this criminal case and the painful litigation to a close for the victims' families. But, when these families needed the justice system the most, parts of that system failed to live up to the responsibility entrusted to them."
Eppler agrees with Mulligan that CBI needs to clean house, a process she also feels should be overseen by a federal agency.
"There needs to be some serious reckoning ... It's going to damage so many, so many lives, and reopening a lot of people's nightmares," Eppler said. "Our case is the tip of the iceberg, and for every last one of them that goes through this, there needs to be something there for us, some kind of apology or reckoning. What kind of accountability is there for us?"
CBI says it's bringing in an "external vendor to conduct an organizational review to ensure ... forensic services, procedures and systems adhere to CBI's high standards."
Mulligan says that's not enough. She's frustrated she wasn't notified about the DNA issues when they were discovered in 2018, as she feels it would have altered the course of Coughlin's case much earlier.
"I don't know why they think that we should trust them," Mulligan said of CBI.
CBI says investigators from South Dakota are conducting a criminal investigation into Woods, but no charges have been filed as of yet.
CBI also says investigations are ongoing into others at CBI, but would not say who, or how many, due to legal restrictions.
"As announced in our press release (June 5, 2024) we are conducting additional investigations. We are protecting the integrity of those investigations and when those conclude we will announce our findings," a spokesperson for CBI said in an email to CBS News Colorado. "Additionally, we are providing all of the information legally possible in this matter while those investigations are underway and will announce a full and final set of facts in this case when we are able to do so."
Ryan Brackley, Woods' attorney, declined an interview, but provided the following written statement about the case:
"The Internal Affairs report highlights certain issues and concerns that were brought to the attention of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation management as early as 2018. "Every criminal defense attorney has an obligation to determine if the issues at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation should impact each of their clients' cases or even change the outcome of any case, open or closed. This is especially pertinent given CBI lab management's likely awareness of of those issues going back to at least 2018. "While the allegations resulting from the internal investigation point to Ms Woods deviating from standard protocols and cutting corners in her work, Ms. Woods continues maintain that she's never created or falsely reported any inculpatory DNA matches, nor has she tampered with physical evidence to create or destroy any inculpatory or exculpatory DNA profiles."
