{"id":693310,"date":"2026-03-30T21:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/693310\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:28:19","slug":"state-forensic-science-commission-blasts-uic-over-rogue-crime-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/693310\/","title":{"rendered":"State Forensic Science Commission Blasts UIC Over Rogue Crime Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was produced by\u00a0Injustice Watch<\/a>, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that investigates issues of equity and justice in the Cook County court system.\u00a0Sign up here to get their weekly newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CHICAGO \u2014 The Illinois Forensic Science Commission, a public body tasked with monitoring practices at the state\u2019s crime labs, sharply criticized the University of Illinois Chicago in a statement last week for inadequately investigating a now-shuttered toxicology lab whose work has contributed to nearly two dozen known wrongful convictions.<\/p>\n

An investigation published by Injustice Watch<\/a> last year found that between 2016 and 2024, the lab\u2019s analysts tested people\u2019s body fluid samples for cannabinoids in more than 2,200 cases using discredited scientific approaches and faulty machinery, and the lab\u2019s lead toxicologist had testified about test results in misleading ways. The lab mostly tested samples for DUI investigations by law enforcement agencies in 17 Illinois counties.<\/p>\n

More than a year after UIC shut down human testing at the lab, lawyers hired by the university issued a report<\/a> in May 2025 downplaying the scale and implications of the crisis at the lab. The university\u2019s report concluded that the lab\u2019s methods were \u201cat all times appropriate and met accepted scientific standards\u201d and none of its analysts \u201cknowingly provided false testimony in criminal proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the commission said it found the university\u2019s report \u201cinsufficient to address the allegations\u201d about improper testing at the lab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe content of the attorney-authored UIC Report suggests a fundamental lack of understanding of forensic toxicology principles, forensic laboratory quality systems, and the duties and responsibilities of an accredited forensic testing laboratory to its end users,\u201d the commission\u2019s report<\/a> concluded.<\/p>\n

Members of the commission\u2019s quality systems subcommittee, which includes scientists from the state\u2019s publicly funded crime labs and a retired Cook County judge, met five times over the course of six months to pore over UIC\u2019s report line by line. They found it contained \u201cinsufficient factual or scientific support\u201d for two key conclusions: That the lab\u2019s methods conformed with scientific standards prior to 2019 and that analysts appropriately processed urine samples to test for the presence of delta-9 THC.<\/p>\n

Because UIC\u2019s report was not authored by independent subject-matter experts, the commission \u201cdoes not consider the UIC Report to be an authoritative document for criminal justice stakeholders to evaluate the competency or accuracy of forensic testing, reporting, and testifying performed by\u201d the UIC lab.<\/p>\n

UIC\u2019s lab was the only one in the country that quantified THC in urine for Illinois law enforcement \u2014 something that isn\u2019t scientifically possible because THC itself does not show up in urine, and the THC metabolites that do are useless for establishing whether someone was high while driving. In 2021, the lab also discovered it could not distinguish between delta-9 and another, legal form of THC, but did nothing to fix its testing methods.<\/p>\n

The commissioners called on the university to immediately conduct a \u201ccomprehensive audit\u201d led by an independent organization staffed with scientific experts qualified to evaluate lab operations.<\/p>\n

UIC declined to make anyone in a position of administrative authority over the laboratory available for an interview about the commission\u2019s statement. In a written statement, UIC\u2019s senior associate director of university communications, Brian Flood, told Injustice Watch the university \u201cremains committed to upholding the highest standards of laboratory research integrity and compliance. The Illinois Forensic Science Commission\u2019s statement and recommendations reflect its views and analysis. We are carefully reviewing its assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fallout from the lab\u2019s testing continues to play out in court<\/p>\n

In January 2025, DuPage County State\u2019s Attorney Robert Berlin exonerated 18 people and dropped one person\u2019s pending DUI charges that stemmed from testing done by the lab. \u201cWith the validity of the test results called into question, I could not, legally, ethically and in good conscience, continue the prosecution of these select cases,\u201d Berlin said in a statement<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n

The number of people who may have been wrongfully convicted based on the UIC lab\u2019s faulty work remains unknown. Neither the university nor prosecutors\u2019 offices that relied on the lab\u2019s evidence have notified potentially impacted individuals that questions have been raised about the validity of the lab\u2019s testing results. Injustice Watch is aware of two active cases in which defendants in Lake and Will counties have been charged with the help of evidence provided by the lab.<\/p>\n

The revelations about the lab have also brought renewed attention to the case of William Bishop<\/a>, who is serving a 31-year prison sentence for murder and aggravated DUI. The DUI charges stemmed from the lab\u2019s analysis of his blood after he caused a fatal car crash in rural McHenry County in 2020. Prosecutors argued for murder charges on the theory that Bishop was over the legal limit for THC and that his use of marijuana brought on the psychotic delusions that caused him to collide with another vehicle. Multiple psychiatrists disagreed at trial, presenting evidence of Bishop\u2019s bipolar disorder in support of his insanity defense. Still, a judge found Bishop guilty.<\/p>\n

\"AWilliam Bishop, right, and his father after Bishop completed a triathlon in Milwaukee in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am cautiously optimistic, but I\u2019m afraid to get my hopes up too high,\u201d Bishop\u2019s mother, Susie Bishop, told Injustice Watch after reading the commission\u2019s statement. Following Injustice Watch\u2019s investigation, Bishop\u2019s attorneys filed a post-conviction petition asking the court for a new look at his case. The prosecutors\u2019 response pointed to the UIC lawyers\u2019 report and argued there is no need to reopen the case \u2014 exactly the conclusion the commission is now cautioning prosecutors against. Given the commission\u2019s rebuke of the UIC report, \u201cI would hope the state would be willing to possibly renegotiate or reduce his charges,\u201d Bishop said.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys who have tried to bring attention to the lab\u2019s malfeasance also welcomed the commission\u2019s statement as a vindication. \u201cIt was nice that the commission called out UIC about what they were really trying to do: discourage litigation against them as opposed to provide an honest and independent evaluation,\u201d said Donald Ramsell, who specializes in DUI defense and has been vocal about the problems with the UIC lab for years.<\/p>\n

However, the commission\u2019s recommendations carry no legal weight. The body was designed by statute to be merely advisory. Unlike similar commissions in other states, most notably Texas, the Illinois Forensic Science Commission has no authority to investigate labs, receive public complaints, or suspend analysts\u2019 credentials.<\/p>\n

Though the commission did not name anyone responsible for the problems at the UIC lab, its statement did indirectly reference Jennifer Bash, the lead toxicologist and quality manager at the lab, who was found by an accreditation agency to have given \u201cinaccurate and unqualified testimony\u201d about the meaning of lab results in at least one case.<\/p>\n

The commission noted that other cases in which Bash may have testified in problematic ways remain unaccounted for because UIC reported it could not compile such information. An Injustice Watch public records request to UIC, however, revealed that Bash kept a log of cases in which she testified, which listed 41 cases between 2017 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Bash, who now works as an independent scientific consultant, did not respond to a request for comment. The American Board of Forensic Toxicology confirmed its audit of her certification is ongoing. The lab\u2019s former director, A. Karl Larsen, who is now an adjunct instructor in forensic science at Loyola University Chicago, declined to comment through his attorney.<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on Injustice Watch<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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