DA Rice Notifies Inmates About Nassau County Crime Lab Problems
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Nearly 300 inmates have been notified that there have been questions regarding the accuracy of the Nassau County crime lab.
District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office has sent letters to local and state inmates jailed in Nassau County for drug or drunken-driving convictions.
Kathleen Rice addressed reporters Thursday about the letters. 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports.
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The letter includes contact information for legal aid or Nassau Bar Association attorneys, who inmates would be able to call collect to find out if their case had been impacted, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported.
In February, officials acknowledged that the lab mismatched reports on blood-alcohol tests in drunken driving cases last fall. Rice also said that six cases involving drug arrests for ecstasy and Ketamine may have been compromised.
WCBS 880's Sophia Hall has more on the crime lab problems
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Rice cautioned that it was "not necessarily true" that the letters would serve as a 'get out of jail free' card. She plans to have evidence in as many as 3,000 cases retested, going back several years.
Earlier this month, a judge ordered a retrial in a drunken driving case because of questions about the crime lab, which was shut down in February.
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