the arizona courts say you dont have a right to a speedy trial when it comes to the police lab work Original Article Tucson police lab dealing with DNA-test backlog Associated Press Oct. 10, 2005 12:00 AM TUCSON - Despite an increase in city funding and staffing for the Police Department's forensic division in recent years, it's taking the police lab an average of nine months to complete a DNA test, the lab's DNA coordinator says. The tests themselves can be completed in as little as two days but delays are occurring because of a case backlog. The DNA section has about 270 backlogged cases, with some waiting since last year for analysis, said Bob Blackett, the lab's DNA coordinator. The delays mean that suspects are not being quickly identified in such crimes as serial burglaries, serial sexual assaults and robberies, which often are connected through DNA analysis, said John Leavitt, the Tucson Police Department's assistant chief in charge of the Investigative Services Bureau. "We don't link cases together, and we don't see how cases link together like a jigsaw puzzle," Leavitt was quoted as saying in Thursday's Tucson Citizen. The backlog also delays the cases in court, prosecutors said. "Some cases clearly get continued," because DNA testing has not been completed, said Deputy Pima County Attorney Rick Unklesbay, chief trial counsel assigned to homicide prosecution. The courts recognize the problems from lab backlogs, which is not just a local problem, but extends statewide and nationally. Last year the Arizona Supreme Court changed court rules in Arizona, allowing a crime lab to file an affidavit in a criminal case seeking a delay in the case, because the lab needed more time to do an analysis, Unklesbay said. The rule mandates that a judge grant the request for an undefined "reasonable" time, as long as the delay is not due to prosecutorial or lab negligence. The Tucson lab's testing problems are bound to get worse as new technology and more police officers and investigations strain the already-stretched system. "We're on the verge of an explosion in work," Leavitt said. The crime lab had 326 requests for DNA testing in 2000, the first year for which figures are available, said Susan Shankles, crime lab superintendent. This year, requests had already topped 300 by the end of August, putting the lab on track to receive a record 450 requests by year's end, Shankles said. Homicides and sex crimes are moved to the front of the line. Specimens tied to less-violent and property-crime cases must wait. "When I started in the section we mostly focused on sexual assaults, aggravated assaults, of course, homicides," said Andrea Gemson, a criminalist with the department. "Knowing that now we have a dedicated criminalist to work property crimes, (detectives) are making more (DNA) tests," Gemson said. "I probably do five to seven cases a week, and they take two to three weeks to do," Gemson said. But they may have waited anywhere from six months to a couple of years to get to her desk.