To cc "Jodi B Jennings" bcc Subject Florida Bar CrimPRC: New Referral: No VI

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1 "Fleur J. Lobree" m> 07/13/ :31 AM To cc "Jodi B Jennings" <jjenning@flabar.org> bcc Subject Florida Bar CrimPRC: New Referral: No VI Dear Subcommittee VI Chair, By this , please consider the new referral below from Candance Sabella (conveniently a member of your subcommittee). This referral contemplates whether Rule 3.853(7) should be amended, to update/correct references to the crime laboratory accrediting organizations, as the reference to the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors fails to include to its Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB), and the National Forensic Science Training Center (NFSTC) now has a separate company for accrediting private labs called Forensic Quality Services (FQS). If you require any further assistance, please let me know promptly. As we are close to our September meeting in Tampa, may I ask that your subcommittee meet at least once beforehand to attempt to address this referral. Please confirm receipt of this . Fleur J. Lobree Assistant State Attorney, Legal Division 1350 N.W. 12th Avenue, S-539 Miami, Florida (305) direct/voic (305) (assistant Sandrus Smith) (305) facsimile FleurLobree@MiamiSAO.com -----Original Message----- From: Candance Sabella [mailto:candance.sabella@myfloridalegal.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 07, :53 AM To: Fleur J. Lobree Cc: Carolyn Snurkowski; Ken Nunnelley; Carol Dittmar; tmills3@bellsouth.net; RKeaton@ascld-lab.org; jjenning@flabar.org Subject: DNA rule change proposal Fleur, Appendix B 1

2 Here is the information on the DNA laboratory certification issue that we believe needs a rule correction. As I mentioned, we recently had an issue in one of our capital cases with DNA laboratory certification under the rule and discovered that of the two listed approved certifications set forth in Rule (7), one no longer exists for private laboratories and the other is incorrectly identified. The rule currently reads: Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure (7) The court-ordered DNA testing shall be ordered to be conducted by the Department of Law Enforcement or its designee, as provided by statute. However, the court, upon a showing of good cause, may order testing by another laboratory or agency certified by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors or the National Forensic Science Training Center if requested by a movant who can bear the cost of such testing. Attached are s I received from both certifying organizations. Terry Mills of Forensic Quality Services (FQS) explains that the National Forensic Science Training Center (NFSTC) now has a separate company for private labs called Forensic Quality Services (FQS) and the reason for the change. [see below] Ralph Keaton of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) explains in his that certification is done by American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB), not simply American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) [see below]. The rule needs to be updated to reflect the accurate names for the certification companies as a number of DNA labs in Florida only have FQS certification. Accordingly, we have been compelled to ship items out of state for testing. Plus, to be completely accurate the ASCLD certification can be corrected to make it ASCLD/LAB. Due to the essential nature of DNA testing, I believe it would be appropriate to submit this correction to the fast track committee for its review. In considering how to resolve the issue, I'd like to emphasize the importance of explicitly specifying the appropriate criteria and/or certification to insure that testing is only done by qualified laboratories to ensure uniformity and continuity of results. If you have any questions or there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. Candance M. Sabella Chief-Assistant Attorney General Capital Appeals Bureau Chief Office of the Attorney General State of Florida Appendix B 2

3 ----- Forwarded by Candance Sabella/OAG on 07/06/ :49 PM "Terry Mills" th.net> 07/06/ :41 > AM To cc Subject RE: Fla Statue on DNA testing Ms. Sabella: Forensic Quality Services, Inc (FQS), is a not-for-profit membership corporation incorporated in Florida in September 2003, with the purposes of:... exclusively religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law (the Revenue Laws ) and the purposes of the Corporation are limited exclusively to public purposes, such as providing training, education, quality assurance management and accreditation for providers of forensic science testing services to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies... The corporation was created by the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) so that it could separate its fee for service activities, which included accreditation, from those funded by the National Institute of Justice. NFSTC accredited its first laboratory in 1999, making NFSTC/FQS-I the longest-established provider of ISO accreditation for forensic science in the United States. NFSTC no longer accredits testing laboratories. From the outset, NFSTC and then FQS identified its accreditations by grouping the associated costs and revenues under the classification FQS-I. FQS-I is therefore the recognized brand name for these services, Appendix B 3

4 and in January of 2009 the branding was formalized by registering FQS-I as the name under which FQS provides accreditations ( FQS doing business as FQS-I ). FQS-I is requesting that the state statue be revised to reflect the change in name of the accrediting body from National Forensic Science Training Center to Forensic Quality Services, Inc. Thank you for your time and effort in this matter. Respectfully, Terry Mills Manager of Accreditation FQS (home office) (FQS office) Forwarded by Candance Sabella/OAG on 07/06/ :49 PM "Ralph Keaton" <RKeaton@ascld-l ab.org> 07/06/ :31 > PM To <candance.sabella@myfloridalegal.com cc Subject Florida Legislation Dear Ms. Sabella, This is to inform you that Florida legislation which refers to ASCLD as an accrediting body for crime laboratories should refer to ASCLD/LAB rather than ASCLD. ASCLD is an organization of crime laboratory directors. The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) is the crime laboratory accrediting organization. Regards, Ralph Keaton Executive Director ASCLD/LAB Appendix B 4

5 Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4219 ( ) The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. Please note that Florida has a broad public records law, and that all correspondence to me via may be subject to disclosure. Appendix B 5