Former HPD Crime Lab Worker To Appeal Firing

HOUSTON -- One of the analysts fired because of errors found at the Houston Police Department DNA crime lab is expected to appeal her case Tuesday.

Former HPD Chief C.O. Bradford fired Christy Kim, accusing her of sloppy lab work and false testimony in at least one criminal trial.

Kim was fired in December because of a DNA test she performed in a rape case against a teenager that proved to be incorrect.

The former DNA analyst's indefinite suspension came nine months after the teenager, Josiah Sutton, was released from prison when a retest of the DNA in his case by a private lab discredited Kim's work and excluded him as a suspect in a 1998 rape. He had been serving a 25-year sentence. He remains free on bond and is seeking a pardon.

Kim testified during Sutton's trial that evidence from the crime scene was an exact match with Sutton's DNA. Sutton, who was 17 at the time he was convicted, was found guilty largely because of the weight of DNA evidence.

Kim is the first from the department to be fired since DNA testing was suspended last year. Two high-ranking department supervisors resigned in June.

The crime lab worker has repeatedly said that poor management and departmental flaws, which left analysts unaware of the latest technology, are to blame for problems with testing.

She was one of six employees who had reported crime lab problems to Bradford in 1999.