{"id":79531,"date":"2025-07-21T02:31:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T02:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/79531\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T02:31:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T02:31:25","slug":"contaminated-dna-samples-found-at-nyc-me-office-sparking-questions-about-a-murder-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/79531\/","title":{"rendered":"Contaminated DNA samples found at NYC ME office, sparking questions about a murder conviction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Additional cases of subpar lab work<\/a> has been uncovered at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner \u2014 with questions now being raised about the potential fallout for a 2021 murder case, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

In a June 13 letter, the ME\u2019s office<\/a> said an charges ongoing internal review that started in August 2024\u00a0 found that 45 DNA samples in 40 different cases were contaminated. Some of the samples, fewer than 20, were uploaded into a federal database, CODIS<\/a>, or Combined DNA Index System, and had to be hastily removed, said Julie Bolcer, spokeswoman for the ME\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

But Bolcer said none of those samples were linked to a known offender, meaning police did not arrest the wrong person or identify anyone as being linked to an unsolved crime.<\/p>\n

The review is the latest controversy to beset the ME\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\"AttorneyAttorney Stacey Richman speaking to reporters, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo\/Mary Altaffer)<\/p>\n

The Daily News reported in December 2023 that a senior analyst and two criminalists were suspended amid an investigation prompted when it was learned they were signing off<\/a> on their own DNA analyses, a violation of federal standards and its own policy<\/a>.which is prohibited. According to standards set by the\u00a0FBI,\u00a0the\u00a0National Accreditation Board\u00a0and\u00a0the MEs office\u2019s own policy, the author of a forensic analysis cannot also be the technical reviewer.<\/p>\n

Before that, in 2019, a botched DNA test nearly cost a Queens man his freedom when he was charged with burglary. The charges were later dismissed.<\/p>\n

The current review, known as a Root Cause Analysis, is focused on DNA samples processed by lab scientists, known as criminalists, between March 1, 2024 and Aug. 8, 2024. So far, 23,900 samples have been reviewed, according to the letter. The findings are disclosed each month in a letter to the NYPD, prosecutors and various defender services, among others.<\/p>\n

Bolcer said the problem was discovered because the ME\u2019s office has quality assurance guardrails in place and that as a result of the review important changes have been made, including stricter supervision and improved cleaning protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the review continues the laboratory is confident that the measures put in place in August 2024 to address the case-to-case contamination issues are working as intended,\u201d Craig O\u2019Connor, the ME\u2019s director designate for the Department of Forensic Biology, said in the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe laboratory is committed to producing the highest quality\u00a0 of work each day for its partners in the criminal justice system\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

But there remains skepticism.<\/p>\n

\"Culture<\/p>\n

Instagram<\/p>\n

Brooklyn murder suspect Culture Bermudez aka CoachDaGhost. (Instagram \/ coachdaghost627)<\/p>\n

Stacey Richman<\/a>, a defense lawyer, said that as she prepared in April to defend Brooklyn murder suspect Culture Bermudez<\/a> she asked the District Attorney\u2019s office to request a re-testing of the two DNA samples linked to Bermudez. The DA\u2019s office agreed, and a re-testing by the ME\u2019s office determined one of the samples had been contaminated.<\/p>\n

Richman said both she and the DA\u2019s office spoke about the contamination at trial.<\/p>\n

Bermudez, described by authorities as a Choo gang member and drill rapper known as CoachDaGhost, was convicted<\/a> of murder, as was an accomplice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to convey that our quality control process worked as intended before the trial,\u201d Bolcer said. \u201cThe sample was removed from consideration and the outcome of the case was unaffected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AttorneyAttorney Jenny Cheung, a member of the Legal Aid Society, is pictured in Kew Gardens, New York, on Wednesday, November 28, 2018. (Jesse Ward for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

But Richman still has questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is it possible that one sample was contaminated and one wasn\u2019t?\u201d she asked.\u00a0\u201cHow many more cases are out there where this happened, where there was contamination that we haven\u2019t found out about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a significant issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenny Cheung, supervising attorney for the DNA Unit<\/a> of the Legal Aid Society, said Richman\u2019s case should prompt the ME\u2019s office to widen its review beyond the five months from last year on which it is currently focused.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still do not know how pervasive the contamination issue is at the lab,\u201d Cheung said. \u201cWhen did it start?\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Additional cases of subpar lab work has been uncovered at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":79532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-79531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-nyc-crime","23":"tag-sub-county-region","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114888879902242106","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}