COLORADO, USA — The Colorado Department of Public Safety requested nearly $7.5 million in additional funding to retest samples in an estimated 3,000 cases after "anomalies" were discovered last year involving a former CBI analyst.
In November, CBI said anomalies in Yvonne "Missy" Woods' work were found as part of an internal process in which a sampling of cases was reviewed. Woods, who no longer works for CBI, was a 29-year veteran of CBI's Forensic Services.
CBI said it is notifying public safety agencies as it reviews which cases are potentially impacted. CBI said it is also reviewing Woods' work and the testing procedures and processes of Forensic Services.
The budget request prepared in mid-January calls for $7,458,374 in additional money. The request says $3 million would be for retesting by an independent third party, and $4.3 million would go to potential reimbursements for post-conviction review and retrial costs.
The budget request says CBI believes the review, testing, and retrial of these cases will take more than a year.
The estimate of 3,000 cases is based on an early assessment. CBI doesn't yet know exactly how many cases could be impacted by this discovery.
CBI said in the request that they're "confident" this is an isolated issue related to one former employee and is not a "systemic" issue within the lab.
Records indicate Woods worked on some of the state's most notable cases, including the 2004 rape trial of Kobe Bryant, the 2008 conviction of a Weld County woman for killing her lover's wife, the hammer killings of an Aurora family, and at least two cold cases – one in Douglas County and one in Lakewood.
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