On Friday, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin released a spreadsheet of 822 criminal cases that may be impacted by the recent arrest of a veteran forensic analyst with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). However, the DA’s office estimates that is only a third of the cases OCME forensic analyst Justin Volk worked on during his 13-year tenure.
On Aug. 31, 2020, it was discovered that Volk had been arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Utah. According to the arrest report, the methamphetamine was in a bag marked “evidence” and had a slip of paper inside from the OCME’s office.
Since 2007, Volk worked in OCME’s forensic laboratory as an analyst. During that time, Volk is estimated to have played a role in the testing, collection and preservation of evidence in more than 2,500 cases, including 500 death investigations, 1,200 sexual assault investigation and 800 DUI investigations. Now, all of those cases are potentially compromised, and many questions are being raised about the work and management of OCME.
The DA’s spreadsheet, available here, lists the resolved prosecutions that have been identified to date in which Volk may have participated in. The DA’s office said the list will be updated, and encourages anyone with a case on the list to get in touch with their defense attorney.
Anticipating a surge of appellate fillings and requests for new trials, Boudin’s office sent a letter in September to the San Francisco mayor asking for additional resources. “To notify, identify and investigate the impact of the potential mishandling,” the DA’s office estimates an additional cost of approximately $455,731. The mayor’s office has not released any additional funds at this time.
Since Volt’s arrest, San Francisco’s OCME has been put under a spotlight, with mostly negative information emerging. Two former employees who worked in the toxicology lab with Volt told KQED that the lab is plagued by poor management and bad forensic policy, including evidence mishandling and protocol lapses. Nikolas Lemos, former chief toxicologist for the office, established appropriate policy when he arrived in 2013. But by 2016, Lemos resigned, alleging he had been pressured by supervisors to engage in unlawful practices at the office. According to KQED, Lemos eventually reached a $100,000 settlement with the city for wrongful termination.
In October, an independent audit of OCME—promoted by Volt’s arrest—found that 10 drug evidence bags were “missing or compromised, indicating that some or all of the drugs that were in these bags were removed or may have been removed.”
“It’s disturbing that we’re still relying on the San Francisco medical examiner’s office to inform criminal cases after years—if not decades—of poor protocols that have led to a loss of national accreditation, substandard work product, and a lack of transparency. Justice simply cannot happen when the medical examiner’s employees—tasked with providing objective and unbiased scientific evidence and opinion—lack integrity,” public defender Mano Raju told the San Francisco Examiner.
Raju has been one of the loudest critics of OCME in recent months. In September, he sent a 7-page complaint to the mayor accusing acting Chief Medical Examiner Amy Hart of engaging in “a pattern of bias, dishonesty, secrecy and unprofessionalism.” The letter came right after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that OCME managers led a campaign to weaken the office’s standards, rewriting the job descriptions of toxicologists to reduce minimum qualifications.
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin has since called for a hearing to consider ways to “restructure” OCME.
Volk posted $10,000 bail the same day he was arrested in Utah. He remains under investigation by the San Francisco DA’s office.
Photo: The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Credit: San Francisco government.