Iowa will recheck fired forensic scientist’s work

The work of a forensic scientist for the state of Iowa fired this week after expressing her fears about black people on social media will be independently reviewed by another criminalist, state officials said Friday.

Iowa Department of Public Safety spokesman Alex Murphy said such reviews are a common practice after the departure of any forensic scientist.

Fired criminalist Amy Pollpeter was involved in six open cases at the time her employment was terminated and more than 1,400 over her 10-year career with the agency's Division of Criminal Investigation. Each of the open cases will be reviewed, and further action, including retesting, will depend upon the facts in each case, Murphy said.

Guy Cook, a Des Moines attorney and past president of the Iowa State Bar Association, called on the Public Safety department to thoroughly review Pollpeter's analyses and findings, particularly for pending cases.

“The cloud that would be over her work in any criminal case would open the door to question whether the state has proven a case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Cook said. “That cloud can’t be removed unless her work is done independently and a simple recheck is not satisfactory because of the public statements she has made.”

Pollpeter, like other criminalists performing DNA analysis for the state, was provided with some information about her cases, including possibly the race and gender of individuals, Murphy said.

A policy adviser for the Innocence Project, a well-known national group that works with DNA to exonerate wrongly convicted people, noted Pollpeter's situation as an example of why law enforcement agencies and their criminalists are increasingly being encouraged to adopt "blind" testing procedures.

During such tests, key details about cases are withheld from forensic scientists to prevent even the perception that biases might have played a role in their findings. The National Commission on Forensic Science, a part of the U.S. Department of Justice, endorsed the concept last year.

“The views expressed by the examiner are unfortunate. They are offensive,” said Sarah Chu of the Innocence Project. “But regardless of how we might judge what she might have said, it’s critical to recognize that we all come to work with our biases. An effective reform that would protect the forensic product of the lab is to conduct testing blindly.”

Pollpeter publicly posted on her Facebook page July 8 that she no longer feels safe around blacks because of the Black Lives Matter movement, which, she said, “effectively created a more racist environment rather than working to be equal.”

She also posted similar statements on a local television station’s social media site.

“That’s where the problem begins — quit expecting to be above the law because you’re black,” she posted on KCCI.com.

Pollpeter was placed on administrative leave July 12. The state issued a statement Wednesday that said Pollpeter was no longer employed with the state, citing the department's social media and general conduct policies.

Pollpeter said Wednesday that she believes the termination may be in retaliation for a complaint she filed with the agency a few months ago. She declined further comment, citing advice from her attorney and the possibility of future litigation challenging the state's actions.

Pollpeter was paid about $85,000 a year and had worked for Iowa for nearly a decade. She has her own website where she describes herself as a forensic scientist, sexual assault survivor, speaker and author.

Several Iowa defense attorneys said the systematic rechecks of evidence analyzed by Pollpeter are particularly necessary, given the damaging nature of her remarks.

Each agreed that Pollpeter’s comments could be used to establish reasonable doubt in upcoming cases and possibly lead to retrials for people convicted with the use of Pollpeter’s work or testimony.

“If you have a situation where someone who is dealing with evidence expresses a bias such as she did, you have to look at it,” said Clinton criminal defense attorney John Wolfe, the father of state Rep. Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from eastern Iowa.

Wolfe said Pollpeter played a role in some cases involving his clients and that he plans to review the evidence and her testimony in each of those cases for any sign of bias.

“If nothing else, it’s just one more thing that has to be disposed of before you can say you have fully resolved the matter,” Wolfe said of the state’s rechecks of her cases.

Iowa imprisons blacks at a rate 11 times greater than that of whites, according to a study released this year by The Sentencing Project.   Last year, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady outlined how the state has among the highest black incarceration rates in the nation, telling the Legislature that Iowa can and should work to become a leader in addressing the disparities.

Cook, the former state bar association president, said those disparities further underscore the importance of the state’s responsibility to rectify the situation in light of Pollpeter's comments.

Among the high-profile criminal cases for which Pollpeter has testified as a witness was the trial of Antonio Hutchins, a 34-year-old black man convicted last year of murder after a 2013 shooting at a Waterloo grocery store.

Des Moines attorney Alfredo Parrish, Hutchins’ attorney, said Friday that he is reviewing the evidence and Pollpeter’s testimony to determine whether he will seek a new trial.

“That’s the first thing that came to mind when I read the story,”  Parrish said, referring to Pollpeter's dismissal.