Former crime lab scientist pleads guilty to mishandling sexual assault evidence
A former Colorado crime lab scientist has pleaded guilty to charges related to mishandling criminal evidence related to sexual assault cases. (Image from Shutterstock)
A former Colorado crime lab scientist has pleaded guilty to four charges related to mishandling criminal evidence.
Former forensic scientist Yvonne Woods, 65, of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation faced more than 100 criminal counts after investigators found that she misreported DNA results in dozens of cases spanning more than a decade, Courthouse News Service reports.
Woods initially pleaded not guilty in February. However, in exchange for prosecutors dismissing 100 charges against her, she pleaded guilty to four felonies: cybercrime, perjury, attempt to influence a public servant and forgery. Woods faces up to 16 years in prison.
An internal review found that Woods mishandled 30 sexual assault cases in which prosecutors claim that she reported “no male DNA found,” when the data indicated that DNA had been found or that the sample should have been retested, according to Courthouse News Service.
Although Woods didn’t outright invent results, the missing data cast doubt on the DNA results in more than 1,000 criminal cases.
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