Forensics chief exits as probes continue

Forensics chief exits as probes continue
Appointed in '05 to fix 2 agencies
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff June 27, 2007

The state's top forensics official resigned yesterday following a series of blunders in the State Police crime laboratory and the medical examiner's office, making her exit the most prominent in a string of high-level departures from both operations.

The resignation of LaDonna J. Hatton as undersecretary of forensic sciences comes amid four investigations into the alleged mishandling of DNA test results in about two dozen unsolved sexual assault cases at the crime lab and another inquiry into the disappearance of a body
from the medical examiner's office.

Hatton, 46, was appointed by the Romney administration in 2005 to fix the long-troubled agencies but had struggled with one crisis after another over the past six months. She will leave in August to become general counsel to the State Police.

"There is no perfect time to leave a job with as many challenges as undersecretary for forensic sciences, but I know that this is the right decision and the right time for me personally and professionally," Hatton said in a statement issued by Kevin M. Burke, public safety secretary.

The announcement follows the resignation in March of the civilian head of the crime lab, Carl Se lavka, and the suspension last month of the chief medical examiner, Dr. Mark A. Flomenbaum.

Although the upheaval put Hatton under scrutiny, Burke had vigorously defended her supervision of the lab and medical examiner's office. He told the Globe on March 15 that she had nothing to do with the problems that have roiled both operations and that she was playing a crucial role in addressing them.

"If I had four more LaDonna Hattons, I'd be very pleased," he said.

Yesterday, Burke said Hatton's work "has laid the foundation for the next phase of improvements that need to be implemented."

A spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety, Charles McDonald, said that Hatton's departure was voluntary and that Burke, a former Essex County district attorney, will consult with the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association on choosing a replacement. He gave no timetable for appointing a successor.

Hatton, who was paid $125,000 a year, was appointed by the Romney administration despite having little expertise in forensics and was reappointed by Governor Deval Patrick in January.

Burke said she was staying through July to assist with the completion of analyses of the crime lab and medical examiner's office by Vance, a Virginia-based private consulting company. Vance is scheduled to complete a $267,000 top-to-bottom review of the crime lab by Saturday. The company recently began a separate analysis of the medical examiner's office.

Hatton, a former legal counsel to Boston Police Commissioner Paul Evans and Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, told the Globe yesterday morning that she would discuss her departure later in the day but did not return subsequent phone calls.

In the statement issued by Burke, she acknowledged that her resignation comes at a delicate time but said she looked forward to returning to the practice of law.

"There are still many challenges facing the [office of chief medical examiner] and crime lab, but with strong support from Governor Patrick and Secretary Burke, the important changes that have been identified will be made," she said.

Since January, the crime lab has been buffeted by disclosures about the mishandling of DNA test results, which led to investigations by the State Police, FBI, Vance, and the state inspector general's office.

All the investigations are looking into problems with evidence compiled in the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the FBI-funded computer network that serves as the registry of 3.1 million DNA samples of convicted criminals and arrested individuals that have been collected by law enforcement nationwide. CODIS matches crime-scene DNA to genetic profiles in the database.

Robert Pino, a 23-year civilian employee of the lab who testified in more than 240 criminal cases and helped set up the state's portion of the FBI database, was fired April 13, three months after the agency suspended him for allegedly mishandling test results.

On March 9, Selavka, director of the lab since July 1998 and one of Pino's supervisors, resigned under pressure.

The State Police investigation has found several kinds of problems, including that Pino told law enforcement officials about 13 positive DNA matches in unsolved sexual assault cases after the statute of limitations had expired, too late for the cases to be prosecuted.

In another eight cases, the statute expired because the lab took too long to check DNA from the crime scenes against samples in the database, according to a State Police affidavit filed in February.

The medical examiner's office faced its own crisis in mid-March, when an increase in the number of autopsies caused unclaimed bodies to pile up in the agency's overcrowded Boston headquarters in the South End and in a refrigerated truck parked behind the building. In addition, the plumbing system had clogged, resulting in pools of blood on the autopsy room floor, and basic supplies, including body bags and toe tags, had run out periodically.

On May 3, the Patrick administration suspended Flomenbaum for the misplacement of the body of a Cape Cod man who was mistakenly buried in another man's grave and had to be exhumed

Last week, the Patrick administration restricted a longtime pathologist at the medical examiner's office, Dr. William M. Zane, from examining any potential homicide victims because he made an autopsy error that forced prosecutors to downgrade murder charges against twin brothers from Ayer, who were convicted of manslaughter.

Flomenbaum said in a phone interview from home that he was unaware of Hatton's departure and declined to comment further. Zane did not return a phone call to his office.

Geline W. Williams, executive director of the state's district attorneys association, which has pushed since at least 2000 for improving forensic services relied upon by prosecutors, said both the crime lab and medical examiner's office are victims of years of underfunding and neglect. The state only began addressing those deficiencies in the past few years, she said, and whoever succeeds Hatton will face many of the same challenges.

"The record is clear that the state's forensic services across the board were neglected for almost two decades," she said. "You can't turn that around overnight."

State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, who cochairs the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, said Hatton's new job provides a good opportunity for her and for Patrick.

"This is an important chance for the Patrick administration to take a fresh look at these two agencies that have not been without their problems," he said.