San Francisco District Attorney says attorney general will handle any charges in crime lab

"There has been a failure in the crime lab that has resulted in the devastating violation of the public’s trust,” Harris said in one of her few public comments about the lab scandal. "We need to restore that confidence immediately.”

Police Chief George Gascon said the department is looking at either independent lab testing, keeping it under police control or a hybrid of both.

"At the end of the day, we have to come up with a reasonable solution that is ecoomically feasible and meets our standards,” Gascon said.

Calling the lab scandal a "fiasco,” Harris also said she’s trying to strengthen a current law that would make a civilian police employee tampering with crime lab evidence a felony.

Madden, 60, acknowledged to police during a Feb. 26 interview that she used cocaine found at work to mask a drinking problem. She took a leave of absence in December after an audit discovered cocaine was missing from the lab and soon retired after 29 years.

Madden has not been charged. However, she pleaded not guilty to an unrelated felony cocaine possession charge in San Mateo County Superior Court earlier this month.

The lab’s drug analysis unit was shuttered on March 9. So far, prosecutors have dismissed about 550 drug cases and have been unable to charge an additional 450 due to the lab’s indefinite closure.

A criminal investigation of Madden should be completed by mid-May.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who met for nearly an hour with Harris and Gascon late Friday after numerous requests, said the parties reached some consensus.

"We all agreed that we want to make sure that every case that may have been affected by any misconduct be reviewed and brought back to court,” Adachi said. "We still don’t know the number of cases (Madden) may have handled. We still don’t know the scope of this.”

Harris, who is vying for the Democratic nomination for state attorney general, said Friday she was unaware of any serious problems at the lab until just recently.

Harris also said that she did not know any specific issues involving Madden until late February, despite an e-mail last fall from a top prosecutor to colleagues concerned about Madden’s behavior.

San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Sharon Woo sent the Nov. 19 e-mail to Chief Assistant District Attorney Russ Giuntini. "The situation at the crime lab is becoming ridiculous,” she wrote.

Woo also complained about Madden, who appeared to be purposely sabotaging cases by calling in sick on days she was to testify in court.

Harris said Woo’s e-mail expressed what she and others knew at the time about Madden.

"There was, in hindsight, obviously a good deal to be concerned about,” Harris said. "There is nothing that leads me to believe that anyone in my office knew or had reason to know that any substance abuse or evidence tampering issues on behalf of anyone in the police department at the time that memo was issued.”

Harris said she also isn’t going to dump numerous cases possibly affected by Madden’s testimony in drug cases despite her 2008 conviction for misdemeanor domestic violence that was never disclosed to defense attorneys.

By law, prosecutors are required to tell defense attorneys any knowledge of a witness’ criminal background.

"I’m not about to throw up my hands and dismiss a bunch of cases that we may be able to prove ... with other evidence,” Harris said.