District Attorney General Neal Pinkston discusses a cold case in the law library earlier this year.Were you wrongly convicted of a homicide in Hamilton County between 1986 and 2002? There could be a glimmer of hope for your exoneration sitting in the county medical examiner's office.
The district attorney's cold case unit learned during a recent investigation that an employee of the medical examiner's office had discovered unanalyzed evidence from a "substantial" number of homicides, suicides and accidental deaths that occurred during that 16-year span.
The district attorney's office announced the discovery Tuesday, indicating a tedious process of going through the old evidence lies ahead. Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Neal Pinkston is creating an oversight committee to supervise an inventory and review of the evidence.
"An initial review of the 1986-1988 autopsy files revealed 35 cases with unanalyzed evidence," according to a news release from Pinkston's office. "Of those, 13 are suicides or accidental deaths, two are cold-case murders and the remaining 20 are homicides that have presumably been prosecuted."
Those 35 cases represent just three of the 16 years that the unanalyzed evidence spans.
"The full scope of the problem is not yet known, and ensuring the evidence is properly inventoried will be a tedious process," stated the release from the district attorney's office.
The unprocessed evidence includes things such as bullets removed from bodies, fingernail clippings, hair and DNA swabs.
Hamilton County Sheriff Jim HammondThere was no immediate indication of how or why the evidence went unprocessed.
Melydia Clewell, a spokeswoman for the Hamilton County District Attorney General's Office, said Pinkston "hopes this process will lead to better checks and balances to make sure this issue would not crop up again in the future."
Hamilton County spokesman Mike Dunne did not return requests for comment Tuesday.
Sheriff Jim Hammond said in a news release that his staff has met with Pinkston about the discovery.
"While many of the details have yet to be determined, and if any of this evidence pertains to city and county cases, I have assured General Pinkston the [sheriff's office] will work with his office as we move forward under his guidance and direction," Hammond said in the statement.
Chattanooga Police Department communications coordinator Kyle Miller issued a statement in the afternoon, saying the issue came before police Chief Fred Fletcher and his executive staff took office and that the department "adheres to all industry best practices."
"The chief is committed to working with our criminal justice partners and the court system to find a productive solution to an issue that occurred many years ago," Miller said in the statement. "The district attorney is the lead partner in this response."
The oversight committee that will be tasked with reviewing the unprocessed evidence should be appointed by Jan. 15, according to the district attorney's office. The committee will be comprised of an out-of-district and/or retired judge, a defense attorney, a civil rights advocate and a law professor, according to Pinkston's office.
"We anticipate the inventory process will be lengthy but are hopeful it will be completed by the end of 2016," states the release from the district attorney's office. "In the meantime, any defendant convicted of a homicide between the years 1986 and 2002 who wants to know if his or her case has unanalyzed evidence should contact our office at 423-209-7400."
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.