Thousands of criminal cases in Harris County are being reviewed after rats were found to have consumed drug evidence stored at the Houston Police Department Narcotics Evidence Room. While officials emphasize that convictions are unlikely to be affected, the incident has prompted a major review and policy changes to address the issue.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office has notified attorneys in thousands of criminal cases that rats have been consuming drug evidence . The issue, which came to light on Friday, has prompted a major review in the early weeks of a new administration. 'I really don't think this is going to compromise any convictions, but it is important for the defense to know about,' stated Joshua Reiss, the DA's General Counsel.
On Monday, the DA's office informed defense attorneys handling 3,600 active cases, including capital murder cases, that involve drug evidence stored in a vault at the Houston Police Department Narcotics Evidence Room (NER) where rodent infestations have been discovered. The NER consists of a series of vaults or large rooms located at 1200 Travis in downtown Houston, Reiss explained. Among the 3,600 cases, rats have compromised evidence in only one active case concerning two defendants, Reiss revealed. Their defense attorneys received a notice stating, 'certain narcotics evidence associated with your case has been affected.' 'It was a very large drug case involving cocaine, marijuana, and PCP, and the rodents got into one envelope of psychedelic mushrooms, and that packaging was eaten into,' Reiss said. 'This is an issue dealing with the integrity of the packaging, not the integrity of the convictions or the cases themselves. I think that's important.'Photos obtained by ABC13 and depicting the evidence room show a cramped space filled to the ceiling with seized drugs. Officials are now working on strategies to dispose of drug evidence that is no longer required. 'This issue has highlighted the pressing need to assist law enforcement in the destruction of evidence no longer needed. In response, we changed a policy last week that will allow HPD to dispose of narcotics evidence obtained prior to 2015, connected to disposed cases. We plan to hire a full-time prosecutor that will focus solely on assisting law enforcement with property destruction. Our plea papers and destruction orders are also being examined to address the issue. Freeing up space for property that is important is essential,' District Attorney Sean Teare stated in an email to his office on Monday. 'We've got 400,000 pounds of marijuana in storage that the rats are the only ones enjoying,' Houston Mayor John Whitmire remarked on Friday
Drug Evidence Rats Houston Police Department Narcotics Evidence Room Criminal Cases
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