More than 400 criminal cases under review after Wyoming lab fails firearms test

Wyoming’s attorney general says more than 400 cases need to be reviewed after the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory’s firearms unit failed an annual proficiency test.

With so many cases, it’s unclear how long that effort will take — or whether it will result in any overturned convictions.

The firearms unit failed the test in November, Attorney General Bridget Hill said, and results were published in February.

“We then immediately began speaking to our accrediting board to determine what corrective actions we needed to take,” Hill told the Joint Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning.

“During the initial steps of corrective action, additional problems were found, or additional concerns were found related to the lab, particularly with microscopic examinations,” Hill said. “And as a result of those additional concerns, in May of this year we did suspend the work of our firearms unit in the lab.”

The state has contracted with experts to process firearms sent to the crime lab for the time being, she said. Others outside entities were contracted to review the cases, for which Hill said there should be enough resources in their budget.

“We’ve been very transparent about this,” Hill said. “We have let prosecutors know, we have let the defense bar know — both state and federal — we let law enforcement know that we have experienced this problem and that we are having to take corrective action.”

Her office sent out a letter to these groups in July, Hill said, informing them the state is reanalyzing prior tests and to ask for help identifying and prioritizing cases where convictions and prosecutions relied on firearms evidence.

WyoFile initially reported on the issue in July after that letter went out, but public details were sparse at the time.

In order to retain accreditation, Hill said, the last decade of cases will need to be reviewed, which is why there are so many to go through.

“It is very important that the lab is accredited because it’s the only crime lab in the state,” she said. “It’s very important that it’s trustworthy.”

When asked whether there was a timeline to get through the 400 plus cases, Hill said there isn’t. In some cases, it’s clear relatively quickly that a case’s outcome was correct.

“It’s the ones where it’s a closer call that take a little bit of time,” she said.

This does not affect any part of the lab except the firearms unit, Hill said. She added that she’s proud of the crime lab, and said that it recently won an award for its efficiency.

The crime lab operates under the Wyoming Division for Criminal Investigation, which is one of six units that make up the attorney general’s office. Others include a law office, the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy, the Wyoming Peace Officers Standards and Training, the Wyoming Division of Victims Services and the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities.

“We’ll continue to take those corrective actions both to make sure that we’re compliant with the law, but also to determine the root cause of the problem and correct it and make sure that we maintain our accreditation if we’re able to sort those matters out,” Hill said.

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