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Forensics mystery

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Date published: 2/21/2003

Were lab worker's records farsighted or just unorthodox?

RICHMOND--When forensic scientist Mary Jane Burton died in 1999, she left a legacy far more meaningful than the pages of a best-selling novel based on one of her cases.

And a controversy that is only now surfacing.

For years, in what was either a stroke of prescience or a mistake, she put tested biological material in case files instead of returning it with other evidence to the appropriate authorities.

In so doing, she has enabled recent DNA testing in cases where all the other evidence has long since been destroyed, thereby clearing two innocent men of rapes.

"This woman has been a complete mystery," said Gordon Zedd, lawyer for a client just released from prison thanks to Burton. "I know she died, but I don't know anything else about her.

"It's almost like she had a premonition that the science was going to get better," he said.

But Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project said Dr. Paul B. Ferrara, director of the state's Division of Forensic Science, told him Burton was "let go because she was not doing good work" and her filing of the testing material in case files was but one example.

A colleague who worked closely with Burton for years declined to comment for this report. Ferrara would only say she left her job of her own accord.

Said Marvin Anderson, cleared of a 1982 rape because of Burton: "My opinion now is that they need to look at a lot of her caseload, because there could be a lot more innocent people who are incarcerated."

Ferrara, however, said there are no plans to run blanket tests of the material Burton may have kept in her files. Instead, he will only perform those tests ordered by courts or the governor.

For one thing, testing it all would be impractical and not necessarily productive. Ferrara said that there have only been 15 requests by inmates for DNA testing since a law granting that right went into effect in 2001.

Neufeld said the Innocence Project is representing at least one other man whose case might be helped by evidence Burton retained.

Ferrara remembers Burton as a quiet and private employee. He said it has been the practice to return all evidence to the agency that submitted it once it has been tested.

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Date published: 2/21/2003