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Detroit Police Suspends Firearms Testing, Orders Audit

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Police Department on Friday temporarily suspended all firearms investigations conducted by the department’s crime lab and ordered it to undergo an independent audit.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, meanwhile, also has ordered an audit of all of her office’s files that resulted in a trial or a guilty plea that relied upon the crime lab’s findings.

Worthy said in a statement that a defense attorney notified her two weeks ago about “significant discrepancies” in firearm evidence reviewed by the crime lab in two homicide cases and several other cases.

“In one homicide case the defense attorney hired an independent expert to examine evidence that was reviewed by DPD firearms examiners that concluded the fired casings came from a single weapon,” Worthy said. “The defense expert concluded that there were 24 fired casings from one weapon, 17 fired casings from another weapon, and 1 piece of fired evidence that could not be identified.”

A Michigan State Police test also disputed the Detroit firearms examiners’ findings. Subsequent tests showed the casings actually had come from at least two different guns, the Detroit Free Press said in a story posted on its Web site Friday night.

The prosecutor’s audit will go back one year and firearms evidence in other cases will be re-examined if necessary, Worthy said, adding, “We will also be re-evaluating any firearms evidence in our upcoming trials.”

Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said she did not know how long the police audit would take.

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