Author: Jenny Deam
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New CBI Director Armando Saldate III plans to increase transparency
On July 25 Armando Saldate III took over as the director of the state’s troubled Colorado Bureau of Investigation amid an unprecedented scandal in the agency’s forensic crime lab, where it was discovered a former employee allegedly compromised and altered DNA evidence in criminal cases for years. CBI has acknowledged finding problems in 1,045 cases…
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Crime lab triples cases under review in CBI scandal
The Denver Police Department’s crime lab has now significantly expanded its review of DNA testing previously done by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s troubled forensic lab, bringing the total to more than 1,300 past sexual assault cases in the area. That is more than triple the CBI cases the city’s crime lab said in April…
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‘All I ever wanted was a fair trial’: Colorado man Clayton Hood cleared in sex assault
Clayton Hood stood in the Douglas County Courthouse on June 6, breathing hard, his heart pounding, waiting for the judge to speak. The jury had just decided his case for a second time. Then came the words: “not guilty.” Suddenly, everything seemed to blur. After being cleared on the first charge of sexual assault on…
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‘I felt this sense of peace’: Amid CBI lab scandal, Colorado man gives first interview since release from prison
Michael Clark awoke with a start at his usual time, just after 5 a.m., his eyes adjusting to the darkness, his brain gauging the surroundings that felt familiar yet also somehow foreign. What struck him most that first morning was the quiet. It had never been quiet in prison. The bang of guards’ heavy boots…
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Judge overturns first-ever minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes, including those in Colorado
A federal judge in Texas last month overturned the first-ever minimum staffing requirement at most of the nation’s nursing homes, including in Colorado, gutting what some called crucial safety and quality of care measures but which critics described as requirements that are too costly and unworkable. On April 7, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk…
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Missy Woods: Disgraced former CBI DNA expert headed to trial on felony charges
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…
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Michael Clark released after spending 12 years for murder he maintains he didn’t commit
Michael Clark was released from custody on Monday after spending 12 years in prison for a murder he has said for 30 years he did not commit. He remains charged with the 1994 Boulder murder of Marty Grisham and it is now up to the Boulder County district attorney’s office whether to retry him. His…
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Murder conviction in 30-year-old Boulder case vacated amid CBI scandal
Boulder District Judge Nancy Salomone on Friday afternoon vacated the 2012 first-degree murder conviction of Michael Clark, setting in motion his release from prison on bail. It is the first time a murder conviction has been set aside in the wake of the scandal that has embroiled the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s forensic lab for…
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DNA evidence against convicted killer Michael Clark now disputed, casting doubt on entire case
An independent retest of DNA evidence used to arrest and convict Michael Clark for a murder he has long said he did not commit now excludes him, throwing into question the entire case, according to a new court document filed Monday. The new revelation contradicts key testimony made by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s former…
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Colorado’s DNA scandal: Hundreds of cases affected, but very few retests ordered
It has been 17 months since a young forensic biology intern doing research at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s forensic lab noticed something amiss in data sets produced by Yvonne Woods, the state’s most prolific and revered DNA analyst. She alerted supervisors. What followed that September day in 2023 has grown into a scandal of…