A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday set a trial date of June 18 for a former San Francisco police crime laboratory technician accused of stealing cocaine from the facility. Deborah Madden, 61, of San Mateo, was indicted in December on a federal charge of obtaining cocaine by of fraud, deception or subterfuge in 2009. The charge carries a possible maximum sentence of four years in prison if she ......

Assemblyman Tom Ammanio (D-San Francisco) announced plans today to introduce two bills that would establish new oversight over state crime labs and eyewitness evidence collection. Pointing to the San Francisco Police Department's crime lab scandal, Ammiano said the first bill would establish a forensic oversight body to create procedures and standards for crime labs statewide; the other bill would develop guidelines for policies and procedures related to law enforcement agencies’ collection ......

Today, more than two months after a far-reaching scandal rocked San Francisco's police and prosecutors, District Attorney Kamala Harris announced she has created a "trial integrity unit."In March, successive revelations shook law enforcement. First, reports alleged that Deborah Madden, a former technician in the crime lab, had been stealing and using cocaine brought in by police as evidence. Next came news that some police who testified at trials had criminal ......