Former forensic analyst Rochelle Austen was no stranger to working in high-profile cases. Austen tested evidence in the murder of rapper Takeoff, and now we know she also tested blood connected to the A.J. Armstrong case.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This report incorrectly stated that Austen was fired from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. HCIFS confirmed to ABC13 that Austen worked there for two and a half years but did not conduct DNA analysis, author reports, or provide any court testimony while she was employed there. Austen went on to work for the Houston Forensic Science Center and has since been fired. This article has been updated to reflect that change.
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Austen was fired for failing a routine quality assurance test, but the Harris County District Attorney's Office told ABC13 that investigators didn't find failures in her actual work.
But A.J.'s lawyer, Rick DeToto, said he feels otherwise in the following statement:
"I have been notified by the district attorney's office regarding the terminated analyst and their work done on the A.J. Armstrong case. We have started an investigation into this issue and the effect it had on A.J.'s trial. Evidence was hidden, evidence was lost, evidence was all of a sudden discovered, and now an analyst who handled blood evidence had been terminated. This is deeply troubling."
Blood was at the center of the most recent A.J. Armstrong trial after spots of it were discovered on the back of his police visitor badge, gathered as evidence the night of his parent's murder. That evidence played a major role in A.J.'s guilty verdict.
The DA's office told ABC13 Austen did not handle the crucial evidence.
"Ms. Austen's only involvement in the Antonio Armstrong case was limited to processing items requested by the defense. She had no involvement in testing Armstrong's T-shirt or identification badge, and her work had no bearing whatsoever on the trial outcome," the DA's office said in a statement.
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The DA claims the Armstrong verdict stands, but Austen's failed proficiency tests resulted in notifications in 392 pending criminal cases she was involved with.
Legal experts said her shoddy work could call into question the outcome of those trials.
"The DA's office might decide that's too much work to put on our plate, to put on the forensic lab's plate, so we're just going to cut deals or dismiss cases as a result of this," legal expert Steve Shellist said.
The Houston Forensic Science Center told ABC13 that the proficiency tests they provide are meant to find these errors before they trickle into actual case work. They said that, in this case, the tests served their purpose.
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