Our View: No defense

The Fred Russell “case” began with the worst possible thing that can happen to parents: Their children died before them. Three Washington State University students – Brandon Clements, Stacy Morrow and Ryan Sorensen – died in a horrific car crash in June 4, 2001.

Russell, who was returning from an Idaho bar on the Moscow-Pullman Highway, crashed into three other cars. He was accused of drunken driving and charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.

For six years, this case has dragged on, offering no measure of closure for the parents.

In homicide cases, delays are inevitable, but Russell made the delay interminable by fleeing to Ireland in late 2001. Irish police found him four years later, but it seemed doubtful that Ireland would extradite him to the United States, because Ireland is notorious for not giving up suspects from other countries. Eventually, Ireland cooperated and Russell returned to the U.S. a year ago.

Russell is, of course, innocent until proven guilty.

Loved ones of those who have died violently feel little peace until the facts of the horror are sorted out inside a public courtroom. There, people remember the victims once again and seek justice in their names.

And now just as the case is getting some of that important courtroom time – motions are being heard in Whitman County Superior Court – the parents of Brandon, Stacy and Ryan are digesting some more bad news. They knew already that the Washington State Patrol crime lab had lost Russell’s blood samples. But a 2004 audit of the lab, revealed in court this week, explained more clearly how the samples got lost.

Basically, the lab was an incompetent mess.

Staffers broke and lost hundreds of blood samples. Lab records languished in chaos. The lab’s manager, Ann Marie Gordon – who is now under criminal investigation – defended the mess by saying she was too busy to follow procedures.

If any good is to come out of this tragedy, may it be that the Washington State Patrol crime lab truly cleans up its act. Government officials in charge of the lab owe it to the public to explain the changes they’ve made in lab leadership, protocol and procedures. They need to guarantee that this kind of mess will never happen again to other victims and their families.

The families of Brandon, Stacy and Ryan were buoyed by support and condolences in 2001. They need more of both now. They have experienced a justice system marked first by heart-wrenching delays and then by indefensible screw-ups in the crime lab. This is unconscionable.