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Sheriff Doug Gillespie speaks during a news conference at Metro Police offices July 7, 2011.
By Jackie Valley (contact) 
Published Thursday, July 7, 2011 | 10:10 a.m.
Updated Thursday, July 7, 2011 | 2:52 p.m.
Metro video
A DNA mix-up caused by human error that led to the wrongful conviction of a man has prompted Metro Police to reanalyze more than 200 cases handled by a forensic scientist, officials announced Thursday.
Police said an accidental sample switch in Metro’s forensic lab incorrectly identified then-18-year-old Dwayne Jackson as the suspect in a 2001 robbery in the southeast valley. He served nearly four years in prison before his release in 2006.
“To say this error is regrettable would be an understatement,” Sheriff Doug Gillespie said at a news conference Thursday. “It’s unacceptable and not to our standards at the (Metro Police). There are no words I could say that will give back the time Mr. Jackson spent incarcerated.”
The error came to light in November when the California Justice Department contacted Metro to say that an offender in its system matched the DNA profile of forensic evidence collected from a blue, hooded sweatshirt the suspect wore during the robbery. A national DNA database used by law enforcement agencies identified the match.
Police said that information triggered a seven-month process of evaluating the case and re-examining DNA evidence to confirm that a mistake had occurred.
The DNA from the sweatshirt matched Jackson’s cousin, Howard Grissom, who also was considered a suspect immediately after the robbery, authorities said.
The crime occurred Nov. 6, 2001, when a masked robber entered a southeast valley home occupied by a woman and her two daughters, police said. The suspect, who was wearing a blue, hooded sweatshirt and ski mask and carrying a baseball bat, took cash and credit cards from the woman’s purse.
He forced the woman and children into the family’s vehicle and made her drive him to her bank to obtain money, police said. Meanwhile, the woman’s husband and son returned home to find an empty house with doors open and a vehicle missing.
The husband began scouting the neighborhood and found his wife driving back with the man still in the vehicle, police said. The man fled, but police later apprehended two men — Jackson and Grissom — who fit the description that was given, while they were riding bicycles in the neighborhood, police said.
Grissom will remain in a California prison, where he is serving a lengthy sentence for an unrelated crime, police said.
Metro officials said they haven’t personally spoken with Jackson, but they have been handling the situation with his attorneys — a course of action Gillespie said was “appropriate” for the circumstances.
The department and Jackson’s attorneys have reached a settlement, pending final approval by Metro’s fiscal affairs committee, Gillespie said. Police wouldn’t release its terms.
The process of clearing Jackson’s name is under way at the district attorney’s office, Gillespie added.
Linda Krueger, executive director of Metro’s Criminalistics Bureau, said the department’s review determined the DNA sample switch happened sometime during the later stages of technical processing, either during the setup of amplification or the loading of a genetic analyzer.
“This was not a scientific error or a technical error, but a human error,” Gillespie said.
The forensic scientist who handled the case, Terry Cook, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the department conducts an internal investigation, police said. Metro hired Cook in 1983.
Police said it’s unlikely other errors occurred, but the department is evaluating 225 to 250 DNA cases handled by Cook. The cases will be reviewed and submitted for retesting if they include a person and DNA sample from evidence, Krueger said.
Linda Krueger, left, executive director of the Metro Police Criminalistics Bureau, speaks to Sheriff Doug Gillespie before a news conference at Metro offices July 7, 2011.
“We expect completion of reanalysis (of the cases) within two to three months,” said Assistant Sheriff Ray Flynn, who oversees the department’s criminalistics and internal affairs bureaus. “This is not quick work.”
Metro’s Criminalistics Bureau became accredited in 2003 after meeting a series of requirements and was reaccredited in 2008, Flynn said. When police confirmed the DNA mistake, department officials contacted the accreditation body, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, to make it aware of the situation.
Attorney David Chesnoff, who is representing Jackson along with his attorney Richard Schonfeld, said Jackson has declined interview requests but is looking forward to a resolution.
“Everybody understands that the imprisonment of someone who is innocent is a terrible event, but Mr. Jackson appreciates the quick response once it was discovered,” Chesnoff said.
Police said they are reviewing their quality assurance standards in the forensic lab.
Police, however, noted that technology changes since 2001 have led to more automation and less reliance on humans when handling DNA samples.
For instance, DNA samples are placed in larger tubes with better labeling and loaded in plate formats, eliminating the need for multiple human transfers, Krueger said.
Since Metro began analyzing DNA in 1997, the department has processed about 8,900 cases, police said. About 44,000 convicted offenders’ DNA samples have been added to the national database, resulting in 1,185 “hits” — or DNA matches — since the department started using the database in 2000.
Krueger said Metro encountered another DNA mistake in 2002, but it was an administrative error converting DNA information to a report format, which did not result in a wrongful conviction.
Gillespie said the department realizes what he described as the “power we have to take away someone else’s freedom,” adding that Metro is trying to rectify the mistakes made.
“When there are (mistakes), I will be standing right here at this podium and admitting them,” he said.
LOL 18 year old too. Serious lawsuit. I'd say worth 100mil. Good job metro.
ain't nothing funny about this story partner!!!
If there is any silver lining, it is that this incident happened before Metro became a gang of trigger happy thugs. Otherwise Dwayne Jackson would probably be a dead man.
Totally sick. There are no excuses for the hell, loss of family affection, loss of love life, embarrasment etc. etc. you were put thru Mr.Dwayne Jackson.Do not give them a break do not settle out of court and do not settle on an amount let the jury give/tell Metro how much the damages amount to.
Until we start putting incompetent prosecutors, police and technictions in prison for an amount of time equal to the amount of their falsely convicted citizens, we will continue to have shoddy persecution of the innocent.
Kind of ironic that the DNA belonged to someone with the last name "Grissom" which happened to be the name of the lead CSI on the TV show! LOL!
And people wonder why I don't want warehousing of DNA from people who merely arrested.
Further proof of my theory...
EVERYTHING BAD HERE happens because of RANK STUPIDITY & OUTRIGHT INCOMPETENCE.
Regardless of what it is...
If a human being has a hand it in this burg, a mess of it will be made!!!
"This mistake should never have happened and is unacceptable," Sheriff Doug Gillespie said.
Thank you, Sheriff Doug for THAT pearl of whiz-dom.
I guess this blows the prosecution's air tight DNA evidence theory.
"Serious lawsuit. I'd say worth 100mil. Good job metro."
Sevehills -- except it will be the people of Clark County who pay it in the end. And don't look for any persons involved to ever be charged or successfully sued. Instead you'll more likely see the cops and DA circle the wagons.
"And people wonder why I don't want warehousing of DNA from people who merely arrested."
boftx -- as this and the widespread abuse of DNA evidence by the likes of Fred Zain (Google him, and he's on Wikipedia) show, prosecution has become a racket where the conviction at any cost has displaced their duty to do justice.
Some of Jackson's best years were stolen from him by this "mistake." It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
"Makes you feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game." -- Bob Dylan "Hurricane"
There will be no law suit on account of it was a plea deal he never said that he didn't do it he merely pleaded that way on the thought of the DA having that piece of evidence that didn't exist.
Oh, there WILL BE A LAWSUIT.
Accident? Always an excuse.
I'm not here to offer an excuse, but rather a rationale as to why these kinds of things will continue to happen and likely get worse. You cut public employees pay and benefits, then you drastically cut funding to the agency, which means you expect those who are paid less to handle larger and larger caseloads and then expect "perfection"... no mistakes!
Congrats taxpayers... the war you've declared on public employees isn't about to produce the well-oiled machine you envisioned.
smartone, I call BS to your theory.
Casino, If they used the threat of bad evidence and coerced him to accept a plea deal..... well now.
gmag, you are correct, very correct.
What a costly mistake.
There's not going to be any lawsuit.
Metro and Mr. Jackson's attorneys have already reached a settlement agreement as to the amount Metro will pay. Once the settlement is approved by Metro's fiscal affairs committee and finalized, Gillespie should make the amount public if he ever expects to restore any trust and transparency in the Department.
Another lawsuit that will cost us, the taxpayers, more money. Metro is out of control. I hope the Justice Department and the FBI step in and take over the department.
They claim the high pay and benefits buy us, the taxpayer, professionals, real?
I recall reading that wrongful conviction payments are usually in the $40-50,000 per year, for each year incarcerated, range. Is there a law in Nevada specifying the amount of the payment? It is becoming common around the country.
Nevada has no law addressing the issue. Some states set a maximum of $80,000 per year; others don't set a yearly amount but set a maximum amount without regard to length of incarceration, i.e. $500,000. Others set an amount of $100.00 per day.
If the wrongfully convicted person can show a violation of civil rights, however, and bring the action under a violation of his/her civil rights, the jury awards have been far higher - sometimes a million dollars per year.
What?
who's buying this nonsense? Why did he plead Guilty originally? How was DNA even part of this case? Doesn't say anything about a rape. So where does DNA fit in? Why did he sit for 4 years innocent put there based on a DNA match he had to know was bs? Did he not know his cousin, who he was arrested with, was probably the real perp?
This "story" makes no sense.
First things first - it shows your ignorance if you don't think people confess to crimes they didn't do. Hypothetical - plead guilty, he got four years - bad DNA at a trial gets him 8-12. You'd confess. Secondly, Chesnoff is a heavy hitter criminal attorney - while Paris Hilton could actually afford him I assume he's handling this settlement on a contingency fee and I'm sure it will be a good deal.
The "story" that makes no sense are how people who consistently evince themselves to be rank idiots consistently manage to post their crazy conspiracy theories on this website. I'd think operating a computer would be beyond their capacity.
Do not trust anything Metro says or does. We simply can not. They are drunk with power. The Police Union and this so-called sheriff, and NO ONE ELSE controls what goes on at Metro. They would convict any one at all of anything at all just to save work. Lazy, power drunk donut eaters. And the elected prosecutors must go along with them or look weak on crime. The Cops and the Prosecutors are the worst part of the system. They are trained and cunning liars. Do not accept anything they say. I know from many years in law enforcement.
The US has twice as many people in jail per 100,000 people THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!
WHY? Do we have twice as many criminalS?
DO we have twice as many prosecutors that are out of control? Because they get more money for each person convicted?
Do we have a profit making, political hacky jobs prison system?
Of do we have government that is out of control?
Oh, its just a human error!
Only stupid people believe that BS
sue,sue,sue - always the answer huh. Maybe instead they should guarantee him a GREAT job and give him a paid-for home to live in - that's what most people around here need and want these days anyways. Give him a huge chunk of money and see how long it lasts.... and he'll be like everyone else out pounding the pavement looking for a decent job and affordable housing.
This Jackson guy made an informed decision based upon the evidence against him, More so on the DNA evidence that the DA claimed to have had and pleaded guilty. Had the DA never said that they had this evidence then there still would have been a trial or yet another plea deal offer in lieu of trial. The article implies that Jackson was a innocent man wrongfully convicted. He may have committed the crime and someone wanted to guarantee a conviction and falsified the test in order to get that conviction.
When DNA is used in court, the defense should be able to bring the facts of this case into evidence to show that DNA testing is not 100% foolproof because the testers are fools themselves.
The guy pleaded Guilty. He obviously knew he was innocent and a simple request to his defense to conduct their own test would have proved as much.
That was not done. Now 4 years after he was released he hits the jackpot and in comes the All Star attorney. Metro's in response launches this elaborate CYA.
Seems the people who screwed up here are the Defendant and his original defense Attorney.
They accidentally switched the sample. IF he had the right to do his own testing, the sample, which was not his DNA, would have still come back as a match. I'm glad we have legal experts like yourself to educate us. But you are right, that guy is kind of a jerk for asking for any money after he was thrown in jail for a crime he didn't commit for 4 years he should be grateful they even admitted he was wrongfully incarcerated I'm sure you'd do the same.