Something's missing

The Baltimore Sun

It's bad enough that criminal convictions are sometimes thwarted in Baltimore's courts because witnesses are intimidated into not appearing. It's arguably worse when a trial is compromised because of police incompetence. But even that pales by comparison to what has happened in the prosecution of William D. Welch, who is facing a rape charge.

Key evidence in the case simply disappeared from the Baltimore Police Department. Not for a few days, or for a week, as sometimes happens. It has been gone for more than two months - and chances are good it won't be found anytime soon, not before the Aug. 6 court date anyway.

You see, William Welch is a Baltimore police officer.

Last July, Detective Welch interviewed a 16-year-old girl who was being held at the city's Southeastern District on a prostitution charge in Baltimore County. The girl alleged that while she and Mr. Welch were alone in the interview room, he asked her for sex, and she complied.

Evidence to support her claim appears to be convincing - analysis of DNA taken from their clothing and wipes found in the trash can in the interview room reportedly implicates Mr. Welch, as does a "rape kit" from a hospital examination of the girl. But the clothes, the wipes and the kit disappeared from the evidence control unit in the basement of police headquarters.

Mr. Welch's lawyer - who plans, with astonishing audacity, to ask that the DNA analysis be ruled inadmissible in court because the original materials are not available - calls the missing evidence "a blunder." The judge in the case calls it "depressing."

We call it outrageous.

At the very least, this incident (and it's not the first) underscores the need for the Police Department to adopt a policy of turning over to outside investigators cases in which officers are accused of serious crimes. There is too much at stake for the department to be responsible for policing itself, and justice is simply not well served.

It will be more difficult now for prosecutors, even if allowed to use the DNA analysis, to prove their case. And as for Mr. Welch - even if he is found not guilty, how will we ever be sure?

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