ANCHORAGE – The arrest of a crime lab technician has rocked the criminal justice system as a man tasked with testing drug evidence was charged with stealing it.
Stephen Palmer was arrested Thursday and charged with six felonies for stealing drugs from a crime lab for nearly seven years.
One day after his arrest, attorneys are already being notified that client convictions may be tainted.
Palmer’s work at the State Crime Lab has helped close hundreds, if not thousands, of cases. According to investigators, it’s that same work that has led to Palmer’s own multiple-felony case.
“The short way of saying it is, he was stealing drugs from the crime lab,” said Director for the Alaska Department of Law’s Criminal Division John Skidmore.
Charging documents show Palmer worked in the crime lab for 19 years, seven of which he used meth and heroin regularly. Documents say that Palmer stole drugs that were brought into the crime lab as evidence in a number of cases.
“This is like an earthquake hitting the justice system,” said defense attorney Rex Butler. “They can play it down as much as they want but this is huge.”
Butler says he has already been notified that Palmer may have contaminated at least one of his cases. He says this hints at the work ahead for an already stressed court system.
“You better believe that people who are sitting in jail behind this are going to want post-conviction relief and I don’t think the state can deny them that. I think they have the right to have their cases reviewed and the evidence retested if it can be found,” Butler said.
The state says the scientific validity of the testing the crime lab has been doing has not been compromised by what happened in this case.
“Our agency with the State Crime Lab are in the process of reviewing old cases that Mr. Palmer worked to ensure that there are no situations in which we believe his conduct creates questions or concerns about anyone who’s been convicted in the past,” Skidmore said.
Palmer’s six felony charges include scheme to defraud, second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and four counts of tampering with physical evidence. Palmer is also facing four misdemeanor counts of official misconduct.