Colorado lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill last week that aims to strengthen the rules for reporting and investigating misconduct at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) crime laboratory in the wake of the Yvonne “Missy” Woods scandal.
Last month, Woods was charged with 102 counts related to 58 instances of alleged criminal misconduct committed between 2008 and 2023 during her career as a Forensic Laboratory Scientist at CBI. This amount to over 1,000 cases impacted by misconduct.
In September 2023, a CBI intern noted anomalies in Woods’ work while reviewing quantification data in vestibular swabs within historical sexual assault cases. The CBI started auditing Woods’ work thereafter; however, records show other colleagues voiced concerns about Woods’ work dating all the way back to 2014.
House Bill 25-1275, or the Forensic Science Integrity Act, would require crime lab employees to report a wrongful action they witness to their supervisor within two weeks. The supervisor would then need to investigate the claim and report it to the CBI director. According to the bill, the director must then inform all relevant district attorneys of the wrongful action. In turn, a district attorney must notify the defendant in each case that the employee worked on about the alleged wrongful action.
The bill also requires crime lab directors to review all records to identify wrongful actions committed before July 1, 2025, by both current and former lab employees. CBI would have until September 2025 to notify district attorneys of any cases involving misconduct, including all cases handled by Woods.
House Bill 25-1275 also establishes counsel for those currently in prison that may have been impacted by Woods’ misconduct. The bill gives the defendant to right to investigate the wrongful action, to request discovery related to the wrongful action, and to seek post-conviction relief based on the wrongful action. It also establishes a process for a defendant convicted in a case involving an employee's wrongful action to petition for post-conviction relief.
“If the defendant's petition for post-conviction relief asserts facts that, if true, demonstrate that a wrongful action was material to the case, the court shall decide the claim upon the merits after an evidentiary hearing. At the evidentiary hearing, the defendant has the burden to show that the employee committed the wrongful action and that the wrongful action is material to the case. If the defendant meets their burden, the court shall vacate the defendant's conviction and grant a new trial,” reads the bill’s summary.
House Bill 25-1275 is awaiting a hearing date in the Colorado House Judiciary Committee after it was introduced last Wednesday. Lawmakers say they are hoping to fast track the bill to the governor's desk.
The bill was sponsored by representatives Matt Soper (R-Delta), Yara Zokaie (D-Larimer) and Senators Mike Weissman (D-Aurora) and Lisa Frizell (R-Douglas).
On Jan. 25, 2025, District Attorney Alexis King announced Woods was charged with 102 counts related to 58 instances of alleged criminal misconduct. The charges include: 1) cybercrime; 2) perjury in the first degree; 3) attempt to influence a public servant (48 counts); and 4) forgery (52 counts).
One day after the Forensic Science Integrity Act was introduced a Jefferson County district delayed the preliminary hearing in Woods’ case “due to the massive scope and seriousness” of her alleged crimes.
Also last week, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office said it is cutting ties with CBI’s lab, and will now work with the Jefferson County Regional Crime Laboratory for DNA testing, including standard DNA analysis and sexual assault kit processing .
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