{"id":2307736,"date":"2024-07-25T07:48:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T11:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-a-crime-lab-scandal-shook-kamala-harriss-district-attorney-office-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-07-25T07:50:55","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T11:50:55","slug":"how-a-crime-lab-scandal-shook-kamala-harriss-district-attorney-office-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-a-crime-lab-scandal-shook-kamala-harriss-district-attorney-office-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"How a crime lab scandal shook Kamala Harris\u2019s district attorney office &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-a-crime-lab-scandal-shook-kamala-harriss-district-attorney-office-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2307736&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A\u200c DUI\u200d case, was eventually arrested and charged in 2010 with stealing and using cocaine from evidence samples. This\u2064 revelation\u200c led to the dismissal of hundreds of \u2064drug-related\u2064 cases that had been processed by\u2062 the\u200d lab, as the \u2063integrity of the evidence in those cases was called into question.<\/p>\n<p>Harris faced criticism \u200dfor her handling of the scandal, with some\u200c accusing her of dragging her feet\u200d in addressing the issue and failing to properly oversee the operations of the crime lab. In response, Harris defended her actions, stating\u2062 that she acted swiftly to address the situation once it came to light and took steps \u2063to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-gif-tiff-sparks-mandatory-anti-racism-training-at-cornell\/\" title=\"Kamala GIF Tiff Sparks Mandatory \u2018Anti-Racism\u2019 Training at Cornell\">prevent similar incidents<\/a> from occurring in the future.<\/p>\n<p>As Harris now prepares for a potential \u2063presidential run\u200d in 2024, her record as a prosecutor, including her handling of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-fbi-should-apologize-for-its-crooked-past-and-focus-on-accountability-for-the-future\/\" title=\"The FBI Should Apologize For Its Crooked Past And Focus On Accountability For The Future\">crime lab scandal<\/a>, is \u2063likely to \u2062come \u2063under\u2063 renewed\u2064 scrutiny. Critics will continue to question her decisions and leadership during that time, while supporters will point to her overall record\u2062 and accomplishments \u200cin \u200coffice. \u2062Ultimately, it will be up to voters to decide how\u200d significant a role the scandal \u2063plays in\u200c their assessment of Harris as a candidate for the highest office in the land.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">How a crime lab scandal shook Kamala Harris&rsquo;s district attorney office<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1709762\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>It was 2010. Apple had introduced its first iPad to the public. Julian Assange&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/wikileaks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>WikiLeaks<\/a> released documents on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/beltway-confidential\/1662605\/doj-unveils-first-criminal-charges-in-bp-oil-spill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>BP oil spill<\/a> leaked over 3 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. And Kamala Harris was the top prosecutor in San Francisco &mdash; where a scandal involving a crime lab threw her office into chaos and was a public embarrassment for the soon-to-be California attorney general.<\/p>\n<p>The scandal, which culminated in a former police crime lab technician pleading no contest to a misdemeanor cocaine possession charge later expunged from her record and Harris dismissing roughly 1,000 drug-related cases, will likely be thrust back into the public eye now that Harris is the 2024 presumptive Democratic nominee for president. Harris, who would head to the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Senate<\/a> and be handpicked in 2020 to be Joe Biden&rsquo;s running mate, will likely face off in November against former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> &mdash; a development that comes on the heels of Democrats pledging support to Harris after Biden&rsquo;s decision not to seek reelection and endorse the vice president.<\/p>\n<p>Trump leads Harris 47.5% to 45.9%, according to a <em>RealClearPolitics<\/em> polling average. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s unvetted,&rdquo; said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative group investigating Harris&rsquo;s past. &ldquo;That vetting typically would have been done in a primary. It wasn&rsquo;t done because the Democratic Party exploded the primary system and just installed her.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Harris, who was elected as district attorney in San Francisco in 2003, is coming under fire from Republicans on the 2024 campaign trail over her record in the Golden State. MAGA Inc., the main super PAC supporting Trump, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MAGAIncWarRoom\/status\/1815906474792542559\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said<\/a> in a Tuesday social media post that Harris &ldquo;was the most liberal prosecutor in the most liberal state in the country&rdquo; and &ldquo;loves criminals and hates police.&rdquo; The post linked to a 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/voices\/2020\/08\/10\/kamala-harris-progressive-pioneer-san-francisco-da-column\/3334668001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>op-ed<\/a> by a veteran San Francisco public defender named Niki Solis. The op-ed, titled &ldquo;I worked with Kamala Harris. She was the most progressive DA in California,&rdquo; slammed Harris for not prosecuting young girls for prostitution. Critics have also taken aim at Harris for her support as attorney general of a law that reclassified some felonies to misdemeanors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2856429\/walmart-and-target-wade-into-californias-proposition-47-fight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>and has been faulted<\/a> for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/3068887\/newsom-scraps-ballot-measure-to-compete-against-partial-prop-47-repeal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>rise<\/a> in retail theft.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the Harris crime lab scandal was Deborah Madden, one of three workers in the lab. Madden, who in 2007 was temporarily suspended from working at the lab after she was convicted in a domestic altercation, would soon be on the radar of the district attorney&rsquo;s office for not showing up to court to testify in cases as part of her job. <\/p>\n<p>In an email in 2009 to Madden&rsquo;s supervisor, Assistant District Attorney Sharon Woo under Harris called Madden &ldquo;undependable&rdquo; and said she had been perpetually calling in sick on days Madden was needed to testify, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/she-falsely-claimed-a-verizon-store-employee-groped-her-a-court-just-upheld-her-lengthy-sentence\/\" title=\"She Falsely Claimed A Verizon Store Employee Groped Her. A Court Just Upheld Her Lengthy Sentence.\">court documents show<\/a>. Just four days later, in November of that year, a criminologist noticed that envelopes in Madden&rsquo;s work area intended to house drug samples were &ldquo;in disarray,&rdquo; leading to the criminologist confronting Madden and informing her supervisor of a &ldquo;security breach,&rdquo; the court documents say. Harris has since said that she was not informed of the brewing lab problem by her aides or police.<\/p>\n<p>The matter, however, escalated upon Madden&rsquo;s sister in December 2009 calling authorities to inform them that she found a cocaine vial in Madden&rsquo;s apartment. Madden left the lab and admitted &ldquo;she had taken some cocaine salt from the lab for personal use,&rdquo; according to a sentencing memo. <\/p>\n<p>It wasn&rsquo;t until March 2020 that police in San Francisco announced the then-allegations against Madden and shut down all drug testing in the lab, the <em>San Francisco Chronicle<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/news\/article\/SFPD-drug-test-technician-accused-of-skimming-3270657.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reported<\/a> at the time. Then-San Francisco Police Chief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/george-gascon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>George Gascon<\/a>, now Los Angeles district attorney, said the matter was &ldquo;disappointing,&rdquo; while Harris said her office would &ldquo;regroup and reevaluate&rdquo; police drug testing.<\/p>\n<p>But for three months after Woo&rsquo;s email, the district attorney&rsquo;s office continued to prosecute crime lab testing-linked cases. Defense attorneys were also not informed that evidence coming from the lab could be tainted or that Woo had raised concerns just recently over whether Madden, a witness for prosecutors, was credible. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. annual convention in Dallas, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Harris, then 45, was at the time running to be the next attorney general in California. The Madden situation sparked questions on the campaign trail about what the prosecutor knew and when &mdash; with public defender Jeff Adachi, an old friend of Harris, publicly lambasting Harris as always being &ldquo;out of town or not available&rdquo; to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We need a district attorney who will give this the attention it deserves,&rdquo; Adachi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfweekly.com\/archives\/public-defender-jeff-adachi-says-d-a-kamala-harris-blowing-off-crime-lab-scandal-and\/article_a222d2f9-83c1-52a0-b18d-35ae474a596d.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said<\/a> in April 2010. <\/p>\n<p>Then, in May 2010, as drug defendants requested their cases be dismissed over alleged prosecutorial misconduct, a judge issued a scathing ruling that concluded Harris &ldquo;failed to disclose information&rdquo; about Madden &ldquo;that clearly should have been disclosed&rdquo; under the U.S. Constitution to defense attorneys, according to the ruling by Anne-Christine Massullo of the San Francisco County Superior Court.<\/p>\n<p>Harris&rsquo;s office had a &ldquo;duty to implement some type of procedure to secure and produce information relevant to Madden&rsquo;s criminal history,&rdquo; the judge said at the time. <\/p>\n<p>Harris&rsquo;s office tried to fight Massullo&rsquo;s ruling, accusing the judge of bias due to her husband being a defense attorney, the <em>Associated Press<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.md\/5kdqi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reported<\/a> in August 2010. <\/p>\n<p>A Monterey County Superior Court judge, however, ruled that Massullo had no conflict of interest. In the aftermath, Harris&rsquo;s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/crime\/article\/Prosecutor-SFPD-ignored-tech-s-unreliability-3267300.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reportedly<\/a> had to dismiss close to 1,500 drug cases. Many cases were those in which sentences were served or convictions were already obtained.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To Harmeet Dhillon, a prominent Republican attorney in San Francisco, the crime lab scandal should have been &ldquo;career-ending.&rdquo; Harris clearly mismanaged her office, Dhillon said. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She failed her ethical duty,&rdquo; Dhillon told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a terrible lawyer &mdash; a terrible manager.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Harris&rsquo;s presidential campaign did not return a request for comment. <\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1709762\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1709762\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A\u200c DUI\u200d case, was eventually arrested and charged in 2010 with stealing and using cocaine from evidence samples. This\u2064 revelation\u200c led to the dismissal of hundreds of \u2064drug-related\u2064 cases that had been processed by\u2062 the\u200d lab, as the \u2063integrity of the evidence in those cases was called into question. Harris faced criticism \u200dfor her handling &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2307737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Kamala_Harris_2024_222.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[36119,36120,32438,4633,32076],"class_list":["post-2307736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime-lab-scandal","tag-district-attorney-office","tag-kamala-harris","tag-scandal","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Kamala_Harris_2024_222.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2307736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2307737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2307736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2307736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2307736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}