Dear Source:
I have just read Andrew Simpson’s concerns about the lack of a crime lab in the USVI and the lack of availability of experts to testify in person. I haven’t read the case he cited, but in Kentucky it has always been the law that crime lab evidence is only admissible upon the testimony of the expert performing the analysis, and upon proving the chain of custody. We routinely have experts appear in our courts. One solution to deal with the difficulty of arranging in-court appearances is the use of two-way teleconference systems, and all new courtrooms in Kentucky have such systems connected to the various crime labs in the state.
With the abundance of crime I read about in the USVI via this website and others, I am surprised that the USVI does not have a crime lab. Sorry, but the confrontation clause in the U.S. Constitution means what it says. The USVI is going to have to step up to the plate and comply with the law. I do not see this as a "loophole" but as a basic right of every person accused of a crime. I have a hard time seeing how anyone could argue otherwise. For the record, I have been a member of the Kentucky Bar since 1975. I have served as an FBI Special Agent, 12 years as a criminal prosecutor, and 19 years as a trial court judge, both at the special and general jurisdiction levels.
Steve Bland
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
