Yvonne Woods, the embattled former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist accused of compromising criminal evidence for decades, was bound over for trial on Friday after she waived her preliminary hearing where prosecutors present evidence to a judge.

Woods, 64, who goes by “Missy,” was charged in January with a total of 102 felonies, including 52 counts of forgery, 48 attempts to influence a public servant, one count of perjury and one count of cybercrime — the most serious charge.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 4.

When asked by Denver District Judge Graham Peper if she understood the implications of waiving the preliminary hearing and being bound over for trial, Woods answered in a clear voice: “Yes, I do.”

Woods is basically admitting prosecutors have enough evidence to send the case to trial on the felony charges she’s facing.

Friday’s proceeding took just minutes.

Wood’s alleged misconduct has been at the heart of an unprecedented scandal that threatens to upend the state’s criminal justice system.

Already one murder conviction has been vacated due to her questionable DNA testing, and three other murder cases once been headed for trial resulted in plea deals on lesser charges and lighter sentences because prosecutors were unwilling to chance presenting the cases to a jury because of the scandal and possibly tainted evidence.

In November 2023, CBI acknowledged that Woods — once considered one of the most esteemed DNA experts in Colorado — had skipped steps in her testing, mishandled and manipulated DNA evidence throughout her 29 years with the lab, potentially throwing into question past criminal cases.

After more than a year of reviewing her past work as part of an internal investigation, the agency said it had found 1,003 problems in the more than 10,780 cases Woods had worked on during her time at CBI — or roughly one in 10.

CBI maintained throughout that it never found indication she had falsified DNA profiles.

The agency recently acknowledged for the first time that sex assault cases made up nearly half, or 46%, of the more than 1,003 problem cases it identified. Burglaries made up 21%, and homicides made up 13%. Other flagged cases included robberies, kidnappings, and drug and weapons offenses.

Defense attorneys in the state have voiced concern that the number of cases with potentially tainted evidence handled by Woods could be higher than what CBI has identified.

For instance, the murder case against Michael Clark — whose conviction was recently vacated — was not included in the CBI list of problems cases.

Clark, who was serving life without parole for a murder he swore he did not commit, was convicted in 2012 in large part on DNA evidence analyzed by Woods.

She also testified at his trial that her testing of the DNA found in a jar of lip balm found at the scene of the 1994 murder was a partial match to Clark. But a recent retesting of the DNA in the lip balm by an independent lab in Virginia found some results not consistent with what Woods found.

Clark was released from custody last month but remains charged with murder. Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty has not yet said whether he will retry the case.

Within CBI’s internal investigation, it was revealed for the first time that Woods’ colleagues had flagged problems in her work in both 2014 and 2018 but prosecutors, defense attorneys and the public had never been told.