Photo: Dan Machold (Flickr)
The state's toxicology lab is currently run by the IU School of Medicine.
A state senate committee heard testimony Thursday about the state‘s troubled toxicology lab. Senator Tom Wyss (R-Fort Wayne) wants to remove the lab from under the control of the IU School of Medicine. The med school has operated the lab since 1957, handling drug and alcohol evidence for criminal cases. But an audit performed by former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman turned up inaccurate test results.
“The audit has revealed,” he says, “and continues to reveal some serious problems with the quality of the laboratory work.
Newman‘s audit determined that lab tests involving marijuana were inaccurate in 10% of the cases, opening the way for defendants to re-examine their convictions. Wyss calls moving the lab to state control perhaps the most important issue the general assembly will deal with this year.
