Handling of evidence key to maintaining integrity of criminal case, lawyer says

Well-known defence lawyer and former Newfoundland and Labrador cabinet minister Jerome Kennedy says he's glad a review will be conducted into how crucial evidence was lost in a Labrador murder case.

• CBC INVESTIGATES | Brain that was evidence in Labrador infant death case likely thrown out with medical waste, docs show

Kennedy, who had served as justice minister and attorney general in the Danny Williams government, said maintaining the integrity and custody of evidence is key in criminal investigations. 

St John's Morning Show7:31Chain of custody

Keeping track of evidence for court cases.

"It was absolutely incomprehensible to me how something like that can happen, knowing the procedures that are utilized in forensic labs," Kennedy told the St. John's Morning Show Thursday, in response to CBC's story on the Matthew Rich case.

Four-month-old Rich of Sheshatshiu died in October 2013 of a head injury.

His father, Thomas Michel, was charged with second-degree murder. The charge was dropped in December when it was revealed publicly the infant's brain had gone missing and was presumed thrown out while under the control of the Chief Medical Examiner's Office.

Chain of custody

Kennedy said forensic autopsies involve documentation showing the chain of custody, as to maintain the integrity of the investigation.

Photographs are taken, sections of organs are tested and dissected by a forensic pathologist, Kennedy said.

"Not only does forensic evidence hold the key often times to guilt, but forensic evidence can hold the key to innocence," Kennedy said.

In an infant death case, Kennedy said the brain would likely need to be examined by the defence so that their experts can test the evidence, too. 

Kennedy, who has no connection to the Rich case, said he commends Justice Minister Andrew Parsons for calling a review.

"We can't jump to conclusions in a case like this," he said.

"But I think there are issues certainly to be looked at and again coming back to ensuring that exhibits are properly protected and maintained is a basic principle of investigation and crucial to the criminal justice system."