🕒 Created · Updated

Yvonne Woods sentenced to 10 years in prison for manipulating DNA evidence in hundreds of criminal cases

Yvonne Woods was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday by Jefferson County District Court Judge Andrew Poland. The former Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA analyst pleaded guilty to four felonies, including perjury, forgery, and cybercrime, after admitting to manipulating and mishandling evidence in over 1,000 criminal cases spanning several decades. Woods intentionally altered, deleted, and omitted DNA data to increase her productivity and speed up the testing process. This misconduct included falsely reporting no male DNA in dozens of sexual assault cases where male DNA was actually present. Her actions led to at least one vacated murder conviction and raised questions regarding the validity of hundreds of other cases across the state. During the sentencing, Woods apologized for her breach of trust, acknowledging that her actions impacted the integrity of the criminal justice system. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has since launched efforts to reform its laboratories and procedures to rebuild public trust. State officials noted that the response to the data scandal could cost more than $11 million.

Sources

Paywall and unreadable sources