Dallas police confirm digital evidence in homicide cases was deleted
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — The Dallas County District Attorney's office has ordered police to conduct a full review of all homicide cases after it was discovered that several pieces of digital evidence had been deleted.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said in a statement on Wednesday that on March 1, police informed his office that several video files had been deleted between 2016 and 2021. The videos were apparently deleted as part of the "normal retention cycle" the department had in place at the time.
In response, Dallas police were ordered to review all homicide cases filed with his office. The department was already auditing several cases connected to a former detective who had raised concerns with handling evidence and reviewing about 52,000 untagged files.
On Feb. 21, police notified the DA's office that bodycam footage in at least one homicide case had been deleted. Four days later, on Feb. 25, the department revealed that of the 20 homicide cases with upcoming trial dates, 13 had evidence deleted, two uncovered new evidence, and five were complete. The review process for these cases is ongoing.
So far, Creuzot said, his office has not been informed that any fully adjudicated cases have had evidence deleted. .
"As one could expect, in an office that receives more than 56,000 cases in a year, this will put a tremendous strain on our resources," Creuzot said, "and will distract us from cases that we have from all other Dallas County law enforcement agencies."
"But, working with Dallas police, we are going to do our best to get this resolved."
