Crime labs, courts struggling against methamphetamine crisis

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Crime labs across the Midwest are backlogged with thousands of methamphetamine cases, leading at least one judge to threaten a lab director with fines and forcing prosecutors to dismiss some charges.

"It's a little stressful. If you're a drug chemist and you come into work, there is no light at the end of the tunnel," said 1st Sgt. Joe Vetter, who manages a police crime lab in southern Indiana with a backlog of 1,400 cases, many of which involve methamphetamine.

Similar backlogs have formed throughout the Midwest as methamphetamine arrests increase steadily in states such as Indiana, Kentucky and Kansas.

Chemists in Vetter's lab work nights and weekends to respond to subpoenas. Angry prosecutors call to demand evidence, afraid that judges tired of granting repeated postponements might dismiss the charges.

Forensic scientists analyze evidence seized in drug raids, conducting tests to determine, for example, whether residue is in fact methamphetamine or how much of the drug could have been made at a clandestine laboratory.

Crime lab managers say the backlog reflects the ever-growing volume of methamphetamine cases, the complexity of chemical tests and the amount of evidence seized from suspected makers of the drug, a highly addictive stimulant that produces a euphoria similar to cocaine but lasts longer.

"For states where there are tremendous numbers of these, you bet it is a burden and requiring huge amounts of time for analysis and disposal," said Roger Kahn, president-elect of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors.

Kentucky officials are working to reduce a 10,000-case backlog created in part by the state's growing methamphetamine problem.

A judge in Graves County, south of Paducah, became so frustrated with lab delays that he warned a lab director the agency could face fines of $100 a day for contempt of court if cases were not processed promptly.

Graves County prosecutor David Hargrove said trials have frequently been postponed because lab results were not available. "Before you know it, we've got many cases eight or nine months old," Hargrove said.

Kentucky's state crime labs processed 354 meth cases last year, up from 280 in 2001, said Jeff Warnecke, manager at the state's central lab. Each case can take days.

The crime lab has also experienced more than 50 percent turnover in staff since 1999 as chemists left for states offering better pay. Training a replacement can take six months, Warnecke said.

Contributing to the backlog in all the states are other laboratory demands, such as increased use of DNA tests in criminal investigations.

But there is no doubt methamphetamine makes a difference in places such as Graves County, Ky., where meth now accounts for more than half of all indictments, Hargrove said.

"It was just like dropping a match in a gasoline jug," he said. "I've never seen anything explode like this did."

In Kansas, where cases have been dismissed because of laboratory delays, competition among prosecutors to get meth evidence analyzed forced the state to create a priority system for cases.

Cases that meet certain criteria, such as those involving children or weapons, are given a higher priority. Prosecutors can also use a password-protected Web site to check on individual cases.

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On the Net:

American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors: www.ascld.org

Indiana State Police Laboratory Division: www.in.gov/isp/bci/lab/

Kansas Bureau of Investigation: www.accesskansas.org/kbi/