Mistrial Declared in San Francisco Police Lab Technician Case

By: Sylvia Ramirez - Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:31:13 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- A mistrial was declared for a second time in federal court Thursday in the case of a former San Francisco police crime laboratory technician accused of taking small amounts of cocaine from the facility in 2009.
     
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco declared a  mistrial after jurors in the trial of Deborah Madden, 62, of San Mateo, told  her they had reached an impasse.
     
Madden was charged with violating a federal law that makes it a  crime to obtain a controlled drug by means of fraud, deception or subterfuge.
     
Her defense lawyers argued that there was no proof that she used  deception or fraud to steal bits of cocaine evidence, as opposed to simply taking what was in front of her on her desk.
     
Madden's first trial on the federal charge also ended in a  mistrial in October, when jurors were unable to agree on whether the element  of deception or fraud had been proved.
     
Illston ordered prosecution and defense lawyers to return to court  on Feb. 15 for a status conference to discuss the next steps in the case.
     
Madden admitted in a police interview in 2010 that she took some  cocaine, but maintained she merely picked up trace amounts spilled during  weighing.
     
Madden's actions and other problems at the laboratory led to the  temporary closure of the facility's drug analysis unit and the district  attorney's dismissal of hundreds of criminal cases that depended on evidence  analyzed at the unit.
     
Prosecutors argued that Madden acted deceptively by working late  more than usual in November and December 2009 so that she could take cocaine  when no one was watching, and by opening a colleague's locked evidence locker  and re-stapling an envelope that contained drugs.
    
Prosecution witnesses testified that 10 evidence envelopes  analyzed by Madden and her two colleagues at the unit in late 2009 appeared  to be missing a total of about one-half ounce of cocaine when they were  reweighed during the investigation.
     
The mistral came after three days of testimony last week and about  16 hours of jury deliberations spread over four days this week.

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