Did State Employees Use Undersecretary Lawlor's Personal Email Address To Evade Public Disclosure of Problems at the State Police DNA Laboratory?

In July 2011, American News and Information Services Inc. ("American News") received information that a state court judge, at the close of evidence in a hearing held at the superior court in Enfield, had questioned the competency and veracity of state police personnel assigned to the Computer Crimes and Electronic Evidence Laboratory.  The three witnesses at the July 18, 2011, hearing were (1) Richard Alexandre, the current state police Forensic Sciences Director, (2) Michael Hofbauer, the Commander of the Computer Crimes and Electronic Evidence Laboratory, and (3) state trooper Samantha McCord. The Honorable Michael R. Dannehy, after hearing the three witnesses testify, stated:   

I'm appalled by the testimony, frankly, and I find serious questions about the credibility of the witnesses here as to how you handle information from the courts.  There's two ways of looking at it. Either you have incredibly sloppy protocol which, being an embarrassment -- an embarrassment to the state police or you have total disdain for Court orders. Either way you don't look too good. Frankly, if you testify in front of me again, I'll have serious reservations about your credibility as witnesses and do -- I intend to have a transcript of these proceedings made, and I'm going to order -- I am going to order that the clerk distribute it to the commissioner of public safety and to the supervisor of your unit so that travesties like this don't happen.

July 18, 2011, Hearing Transcript at 32-33. Additional information  from a confidential and reliable source led to a July 21, 2011, request by American News for records of external audits conducted at the state police laboratory.  The state police disclosed on August 8, 2011, to American News president Edward A. Peruta, following a six-hour wait at state police headquarters in Middletown, the reports of two audits conducted on July 11-13, 2011.  The Hartford Courant received the audits from American News on August 8, 2011, and published a story on August 9, 2011.  Governor Dannel P. Malloy formed a seventeen member panel (Crime Lab Working Group) on August 11, 2011, to address the problems at the state police DNA laboratory cited in the two federal audits.  Governor Malloy appointed Office of Policy and Management Undersecretary Michael P. Lawlor "to lead a team of key stakeholders and experts to develop both a short- and long-term strategy to bolster our state crime lab’s ability to deal with an unprecedented increase in its workload." 

A confidential and reliable source informed American News after a March 15, 2012, meeting of the Crime Lab Working Group that Undersecretary Lawlor had distributed his personal email address at the March 15, 2012, meeting to avoid disclosure of communications about the state police DNA laboratory from requests made pursuant to the state Freedom of Information Act.  This information led to requests from American News dated March 26, 2012, and March 28, 2012, for emails sent or received by Undersecretary Lawlor at a personal email address.

Emails to Undersecretary Lawlor at mlawlor99@gmail.com from two Forensic Science Examiners at the state DNA Laboratory were disclosed to American News on May 30, 2012, revealing inside opinions and observations about the demise of the state DNA laboratory and "things that go behind the scenes[,] including that people will lie to get ahead[,] ... not just about the proficiency issue that caused the lapse in accreditation."

CGAIN intends to submit a demand to the Governor for a full investigation and inquiry into the practice by  state employees of using personal emails and devices to send and receive emails containing information disclosable under the Freedom of Information Act to avoid disclosure of the information to the public.

A Timeline of the events from July 11, 2011, though May 30, 2012, with relevant and corroborating documents follows: 

TIMELINE 

July 21, 2011:  American News submits a Freedom of Information request to the state police for "records related to FBI audits of the DNA unit that have been received or generated since January 1, 2008" and "all court transcripts in the possession of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection ... where the Connecticut State Police Computer crime laboratory or personnel assigned to same are the subject of criticism by a Federal or State Judge." 

July 21, 2012:  State police attorney Thomas Hatfield assigns case number 11-541 to American News' July 21, 2012, FOIA request.

August 8, 2011:  State police major William Podgorski provides state police attorney Thomas Hatfield external audits conducted of the state police DNA laboratory.

August 8, 2011:  State police attorney Thomas Hatfield discloses to American News the National Forensic Science Technology Center External DNA Audit of Connecticut State Police Laboratory, Report on Compliance With The FBI Director's Quality Assurance Standards For Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories, performed July 11-13, 2011, and the National Forensic Science Technology Center External DNA Audit of Connecticut State Police Laboratory, Report on Compliance With The FBI Director's Quality Assurance Standards For DNA Databasing Laboratories, performed July 11-13, 2011, which contain findings that the state police laboratory does not have or follow a documented evidence control system to ensure the integrity of physical evidence (Standard 7.1 at page 23) and laboratory personnel do not have the education, training, and experience commensurate with the testimony and evidence presented. (Standard 5.1 at page 10), respectively.

August 8, 2011:  American News discloses the audits to The Hartford Courant.                                   

August 9, 2011: The Hartford Courant, "Feds Criticize State Police Crime Lab Operations," Josh Kovner.  "'The audits,' said Michael Lawlor, chief of criminal justice planning for Gov. Dannel Malloy, 'fit into a larger picture.  There are serious problems at the state crime lab.  A lot has to do with understaffing but there may be other problems as well.'"

August 11, 2011: The Hartford Courant, "Malloy Appoints Panel to Fix State Crime Lab Woes," Josh Kovner.  Governor Malloy appoints a seventeen (17) member panel of experts and legislative leaders (Crime Lab Working Group) to develop a plan to reduce the backlogs at the DNA laboratory after the  audits cite "weaknesses in supervision, reporting of case results, evidence control, data security, quality assurance, adherence to standard operating procedures for DNA analyses and validation techniques for DNA test results, among other issues."

March 15, 2012:  Meeting of the Crime Lab Working Group at Connecticut State Police Lab.  Office of Policy and Management Undersecretary Lawlor provides his personal email address, mlawlor99@gmail.com, to the Crime Lab Working Group and state police employees assigned to the Connecticut State Police Laboratory in attendance. 

March 16, 2012:  State laboratory Forensic Science Examiner in attendance at the March 15, 2012, Crime Lab Working Group meeting emails Undersecretary Lawlor at mlawlor99@gmail.com requesting a confidential meeting, asking Undersecretary Lawlor to maintain confidentiality, and informing Undersecretary Lawlor that "people will lie to get ahead and it's not right" stating further that the reference to lying was not limited to "the proficiency issue that caused our lapse in accreditation."

March 26, 2012:  State laboratory Forensic Science Examiner in attendance at the March 15, 2012, Crime Lab Working Group Meeting emails Undersecretary Lawlor at mlawlor99@gmail.com to provide Undersecretary Lawlor with a "theory of the demise of the Lab" and what he believes "can be done to get the lab back on some solid ground for the future." 

March 26, 2012:  Email from American News to state police attorney Thomas Hatfield copying Undersecretary Lawlor and the Office of the Attorney General indicating that American News has received "credible information from a confidential source that attempts are being made in the Malloy administration to conceal public information from FOI mandates."

March 26, 2012:  Email from Undersecretary Lawlor to American News denying he is "aware of any such attempt to conceal public information."

March 26, 2012: Freedom of Information Act request by American News for emails to or from Undersecretary Lawlor using any email address(es) other than a “ct.gov email” address containing information subject to FOIA disclosure.

March 27, 2012:  Email from Undersecretary Lawlor responding to March 26, 2012, FOIA request.

March 27, 2012:  Correspondence from American News to Undersecretary Lawlor reiterating March 26, 2012, FOIA request.

March 28, 2012:  Resubmission of Freedom of Information Act request by American News for emails to or from Undersecretary Lawlor using any email address(es) other than a “ct.gov email” address containing information subject to FOIA disclosure.

March 28, 2012:  Letter from Nancy McLean, Executive Secretary of Legal Affairs, Office of Policy and Management, to Attorney Rachel M. Baird, acknowledging receipt of Freedom of Information Request to Undersecretary Lawlor for Emails Disclosable under the Freedom of Information Act.

May 30, 2012: Disclosure of emails received by Undersecretary Lawlor at his mlawlor99@gmail.com address on March 16, 2012, and March 26, 2012.