Group Demands Independent Review Of Detroit Crime Lab Cases

DETROIT (WWJ) - A group calling itself the Detroit Peoples Task Force is demanding that City Council rescind the contract that funds Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's review of cases from the now shuttered Detroit Police Crime Lab.

A handful of citizens demonstrated Tuesday morning in front of the Spirit of Detroit.

Detroit Peoples Task Force Executive Director Kevin Cary questions Worthy's objectivity in reviewing cases that her staff prosecuted.

"A fox walked in the hen house ... Like I said, it was her staff that used that tainted evidence to help wrongly convict these African-American people, people in Wayne County, Detroit," Cary said.

Carey said an independent investigator should handle the review, rather than Worthy, who he says has no jurisdiction over the crime lab.

"She's trying to cover up herself, you know, the errors that people made and also the fear of being sued by these prisoners that have been wrongly-convicted, once they get exonerated," he said.

The Detroit Crime Lab was shut down in 2008 after an independent audit found numerous case errors.