Funding, drug complexity add to backlog in forensic labs

• 769 forensic biology tests waiting to match blood, saliva or semen to a suspected criminal or crime victim;

• 882 firearm and toolmark tests;

• 83 forensic pathology tests needed to determine cause or manner of death.

The backlog information was provided to this newspaper in response to a public records request filed with the forensic department in October.

The drug chemistry backlog is the most significant delay facing the department, incoming Director Angelo Della Manna said last week. And it’s not that the labs are doing less work; more tests were cleared in 2017 than in 2012 and 2007, according to information provided to The Decatur Daily.

“These new drugs are more complex,” Della Manna said. Ten years ago, marijuana was one of the most tested drugs and could almost be identified by sight. Now, synthetic drugs, opioids and fentanyl take hours of testing to properly identify, Della Manna said.

He also points to a cut in the department’s General Fund Budget appropriation. In 2007, the department didn’t have a backlog, he said. According to state records, Forensics in 2007 received $13.1 million from the General Fund. In 2017, the General Fund appropriation was about $9 million. Della Manna said he has about half the chemists of a decade ago.

Forensic labs in the Shoals, Dothan and Jacksonville have closed in the past 10 years. In north Alabama, the Huntsville lab serves law enforcement in 22 counties.

In October, several area prosecutors and police leaders said long waits for evidence testing were common. In Lawrence County, the backlog was blamed for the release of a suspect in a double homicide.

Tamorris Oneil Bolding, 23, of Muscle Shoals, was released following a judge’s order saying testimony presented at the Aug. 15 preliminary hearing was not sufficient to show probable cause he committed the July 6 crimes.

Bolding and Kevin Deshaunn Deloney Jr., 19, of Decatur, had been in jail since their arrests July 26 for the slaying of Jimmy Lee Bolding, 34, of North Courtland, and James Lemark Madden, 41, of Muscle Shoals, at Jimmy Bolding’s residence on Rosa Parks Street. The suspects each were charged with two counts of capital murder.

Lawrence County District Attorney Errek Jett and Sheriff Gene Mitchell said they asked the department to hurry the testing in their double homicide. Results are still pending.

“We asked them to expedite the test results, and I am sure other folks are asking them to expedite, too,” Mitchell said last week. “They’ve got more than they can handle.

“Six months is not unusual (to receive results). We’re getting close to that time.”

Della Manna said the department does prioritize cases by trial date and if the evidence is related to a crime against a person. He said the Lawrence County situation was “rare.”

The forensic biology backlog is high, Della Manna said, at least in part because for the last 15 years the department has taken on another challenge: testing rape kits from cold cases from the 1970s and '80s. Last year, the department solved an average of two cases a day, he said.

“We’ve solved thousands of cases. That wouldn’t be possible without federal grant dollars,” he said. But more state money would mean more tests.

While the state Department of Forensic Sciences has seen significant cuts to its state General Fund appropriation in the last decade, other sources of funding and overall receipts have increased slightly.

According to the Executive Budget Office, the department in 2017 budgeted for $28.6 million in receipts. About $9.1 million of that was from the state General Fund, allocated by lawmakers. The rest came from earmarked state sources, federal and local funds.

Meanwhile, the agency’s number of employees statewide hasn’t decreased significantly in recent years. There were 213 employees in 2016, according the State Personnel Department.

The department also maintains equipment used in DUI testing. To date, the department has trained over 19,500 law enforcement officers and operators on the use of a breath-testing instrument, at no cost to their agencies, the director said.

In the 2019 budget, Della Manna is requesting a $2 million General Fund increase to help tackle the drug backlog and cold-case rape kits.

Lawmakers return to Montgomery on Jan. 9 to begin the 2019 budget-drafting process. But they’ll have to grapple with expected increased spending by the Alabama Department of Corrections, the result of a court order to fix its mental health care, as well as a possible hole in a children’s health insurance program that could cost the state $40 million or more.

“I would think that it will be difficult for agencies to get any significant increase (in funding) with the prison situation,” Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, said Thursday. He’s chairman of the House General Fund budget committee.

Meanwhile, forensic labs continue to receive evidence from 452 law enforcement agencies.

“Ten years ago, we didn’t have a backlog, we were under 90 days everywhere, before the (General Fund) cuts,” Della Manna said.

He officially becomes director of the department Monday. Michael Sparks, the outgoing director, is running for state Senate next year to replace retiring Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville.