A shortage of money, staffing and equipment has left the Allegheny County forensic lab unable to complete any more DNA tests this year, Coroner Cyril Wecht said Monday. “We just don’t have the money to buy the materials,” Dr. Wecht said last night after asking County Council’s public safety committee for an $800,000 increase in financing for the lab next year. Wecht’s appeal came just a day before county Chief Executive Jim Roddey’s scheduled presentation of his proposed 2003 budget. County officials have been bracing for a lean spending plan because Roddey has projected a $41.5 million shortfall next year. Wecht acknowledged that the request for more money comes at a bad time. “We need this money for training, for staff and for equipment,” he said. The halt in DNA testing and a chronic, six-month testing backlog hinders the investigation and prosecution of homicides, rapes and other crimes, according to police officials, prosecutors and victims’ advocates. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Bellevue Police Chief Mike Bookser, who cited a case in which a man waited 16 months for lab tests to clear him of sexual assault allegations. “We should be ashamed of ourselves that it has gotten this far.” The crime lab, a division of the coroner’s office, has a $3.5 million budget in 2002 and about 30 technicians to analyze every piece of evidence collected by police in Pittsburgh and the surrounding county. An increase in rape and drug cases, a tripling of the amount of evidence submitted for testing and new, more complicated DNA tests have created the backlog. Wecht could not provide a specific number of backlogged cases. Wecht said his office needs $478,000 for 12 additional employees, $100,000 for training and about $214,000 for equipment. The lab recently ran out of the chemicals and materials to complete DNA tests on blood and evidence from rape and homicide cases, he said. The lab does not have the money to buy more supplies. Buying enough material to test just seven cases costs about $4,000, he said. Because the lab cannot do the work, the district attorney’s office must resort to testing by outside labs, which costs about $6,500 a case, according to Assistant District Attorney Eric Fisher. “It’s more effective and efficient to spend a little money now than pay a lot of money down the road,” Fisher told Council members. Police officials said the backlog and budgetary shortfalls in the lab are hurting investigations. “We’re the biggest user of the crime lab, and we can’t work like this,” said Pittsburgh’s Deputy Police Chief Charles Moffatt, who said court cases for drug and gun arrests are being delayed for months while the lab examines evidence. The delay can affect families awaiting test results to determine the cause of death for victims of accidents or suspected overdoses. Results of drug and alcohol testing can take up to six months, said Patrick Lanigan of the Allegheny County Funeral Directors Association. The families of victims of violent crimes can wait even longer.

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