As lawyers are becoming more educated about forensic issues, more instances of misconduct by labs are coming to light. A recent one involves a private lab - Integrated Forensic Laboratories - who does work for Bexar County.
One of their analysts was fired for not doing paperwork properly - including one instance where she recorded names improperly on 350 samples. She also has been accused of losing or misplacing another analyst's worksheets.
In typical fashion, the lab - along with District Attorney's office - claims there is nothing wrong with the test results. While that may true, can they be sure the right test goes with the right suspect? That's not the only problem that has been found at the lab; there have also been problems with handling and storing samples.
It shouldn't be a suprise that there are going to be problems with forensic labs; they rely on people, and people make mistakes. Unfortunately, the labs are slow to report problems - and usually don't do so until someone catches them. That means it's up to defense lawyers to thoroughly investigate each case - which can only be done by obtaining all the evidence.