DeSoto County supervisors Monday took a step toward addressing a huge backlog of DeSoto County cases clogging the drug crime lab in Batesville. Their decision came after DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton suggested that two forensic scientists be hired and added to the drug crime lab facility. The additions would be committed to DeSoto County cases only.
Barton and Jordan Brumbelow with the District Attorney’s office brought with them two containers totaling 40 cases from one day with the Hernando Police Department that could not continue. Barton said the crime lab had taken too long to process the evidence, so prosecution of the case could not continue.“Our state crime lab system is inadequate to keep up with the demand of our cases,” Barton said. “We have a lot of drug cases that get sent to the crime lab and because of their backlog, and they’re short staffing and lack of resources, these cases end up being delayed and when they take too long, we run into issues prosecuting. We just had to pick and choose which cases we prosecute and that’s a problem.”
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