Jackson Free Press

Hinds County is paying twice as much as it should for forensic services, according to crime prevention activists. Hinds County forensics consultant Ann Williams joined others March 13 on the steps of the Capitol building to call for adequate funding for the state crime lab, as legislators inside warred among themselves over the salvation of Medicaid.

In a time of extreme statewide funding shortages, Hinds County spends about $2 million a year shipping off bodies for forensic analysis by people not directly salaried by the county, said Williams. She added that it is currently the counties who finance autopsies, and because most of the work is handled by outside agencies, the costs aren't cheap.

"We need a salaried, board-certified forensics pathologist with two assistant pathologists, as well as technicians," Williams said. "Even with all that, a fully equipped and staffed lab for a medical examiner would cost less than $1 million, maybe even $600,000 or $700,000."

On the average, Hinds County contracts autopsies to pathologist Steven Haynes, who Williams said gets a minimum of $500 an autopsy and charges extra to draw fluids, do X-rays and to testify. Instead of doing the autopsies at the state facility, it's done at Mississippi Mortuary Services, owned by Rankin County Coroner Jimmy Roberts, who also collects fees for transporting bodies and for doing the autopsy there. Williams estimates that between Haynes and Roberts, "they're making close to $2 million a year."

"Haynes is not a board-certified forensic pathologist, so in my view the county, for less money, could get better services, and in a time when everybody is screaming about tight budgets, why on earth are they paying almost twice as much?" Williams said.

Haynes did not immediately return calls from the Jackson Free Press.

Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson said that Haynes is "a very busy person," and added that the heavy workload is helping to feed the justice system logjam that voters are constantly complaining about.

"There are many cases right here in Hinds County that have gone unsolved, and sometimes those cases are unsolved because of the lack of forensic evidence," Peterson said. "There are counties in this state that don't even have the money to pay for public defenders. Without a crime lab to process evidence in their violent crimes, sex crimes and other cases, law enforcement is stopped." She added: "They process not only DNA but our ballistics evidence, trace evidence and so much more valuable information that we need in order to prosecute and do our job effectively for this community."

The rally called most fervently for a state crime lab that could carry the benefit of a DNA lab. Attending the rally were Ann Pace, mother of serial killer victim Charlotte Murray Pace, and Lynne Marino, mother of murder victim Pam Kinamore.

"Without the DNA lab in Louisiana and Florida, we never would have gotten a southeast Louisiana serial killer who took my daughter," said Pace, amid tears. "I guarantee everyone, or some of their loved ones, will eventually be affected by crime, and without a DNA lab we are at a disadvantage. We have the DNA technology here today. We just need the technicians and the labs to provide the ability to test it."

Marino said it was "all a matter of priorities at this point."

"In Louisiana we have money to fund Mike the Tiger, the mascot of LSU, we have the funds to travel all over the country and recruit the top athletes, but we don't have money to help prevent crime," she said.

Williams said legislators are responsible for getting the state crime lab off its skeleton crew.

"The most fundamental responsibility of any political figure is to safeguard the public welfare. Here in our state, the role of the Mississippi State Crime Lab in processing evidence for police agencies is absolutely critical to the success of our criminal justice system. Yet, year after year, the state crime lab's budget has been cut, and important crime scene evidence is left waiting to be processed. Months pass, and meanwhile vicious criminals are free to target new victims," said Williams, who claims the state only has one DNA analyst and only one trace evidence analyst, and that "they're paid less than their colleagues in the surrounding states and far less that they could be making in the private sector."

"This is not a quality-of-life issue," Williams said. "This is an issue of life and death."

No member of the Legislature attended the rally. Appropriations Chairman Sen. Jack Gordon, D-Grenada, called the battle against crime "a high priority," however.

"No agency much gets fully funded for what they request, but we will be putting every bill in conference and we will be taking care of those particular needs, and public safety is one of our very highest priorities."

Peterson said that any politician who ran on a platform of crime prevention and didn't fully fund the state crime lab "should be ashamed."

"I've heard so many people who have run for public office in this state talking about their commitment to crime fighting. If we don't adequately fund our state crime lab, then shame on those who say they're serious about fighting crime," the district attorney said.