Repository Collection 03
Legal tangle may slow SBI reforms
ARTICLE SOURCE ENTRY
Last Revised • July 3, 2026
This newspaper article documents growing public concern regarding the integrity and oversight of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory during the 2010 forensic reporting controversy. The article reports calls from law enforcement leadership for greater accountability and provides contemporaneous evidence that confidence in SBI laboratory practices had eroded beyond the defense community, supporting the allegations discussed throughout Statement of Facts A.
Related SMAR Citation
("State police group urges criminal probe of SBI," News and Observer, August 19, 2010)
Source Name
Legal tangle may slow SBI reforms
Author(s)
Mandy Locke & Joseph Neff
Publication(s)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Publication Date
August 19, 2010
Verification Source
"SBI's methods stun former FBI official," The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Source Location
News & Observer special report on SBI laboratory practices
Highlighted Pages
1, 5
Referenced in the Supplemental Motion
Page 11, Paragraph 12
Source Status
✔ Article obtained and reviewed.
✔ Relevant passages highlighted.
✔ Publicly available source
✔ Included within the Source Verification Archive
Cited to Support
Lyle C. May alleges that concerns regarding the reliability and integrity of SBI laboratory operations extended beyond defense attorneys, innocence advocates, prosecutors, and independent reviewers to include law-enforcement organizations themselves. May cites this article in support of his claims regarding forensic evidence practices affecting criminal prosecutions throughout North Carolina, including the forensic evidence presented in his Buncombe County prosecution arising from the July 1997 murders in Asheville, North Carolina. The News & Observer article is cited to document the statement of John Midgette, Executive Director of the North Carolina Police Benevolent Association, that "no further laboratory analysis can be trusted under the current control of SBI leadership." May relies upon this statement to support his claim that confidence in the SBI Crime Laboratory had deteriorated to the point that even representatives of the law-enforcement community publicly questioned the trustworthiness of SBI forensic testing and called for greater scrutiny of SBI leadership and laboratory practices.
Supporting Documents
Original Article
Link to the original article.
Highlighted Research Copy
Working research copy containing the highlighted passages cited in the Supplemental Motion.
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