By MATTHEW BROWN and COLLEEN SLEVIN
Associated Press

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — A former Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA scientist is facing 102 criminal charges, including dozens of counts of forgery, after authorities said she cut corners and didn't follow standard testing protocols in hundreds of criminal cases.

During her nearly 30-year career, Yvonne “Missy” Woods often would be called as a witness during trials to explain DNA evidence against defendants. But on Thursday, Woods, who retired in 2023, appeared in court by video from a suburban Denver jail for the first time since she turned herself in.

“This gets to the heart of whether or not science can be trusted, whether or not law enforcement can be trusted and quite frankly whether the judicial system can be trusted,” Jefferson County judge Graham Peper said during the short hearing.

After learning that Woods had cooperated with authorities and flew back to Colorado immediately after learning she had been charged, Peper agreed to allow her to use a bail bond company to post her bond rather than paying the full $50,000 in cash in order to be released from jail.

Woods' attorney, Lindsay Brown, declined to comment after the hearing.

The validity of more than 500 cases has been called into question as a result of her altering digital data in the cases, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Woods is charged with alleged criminal misconduct in 58 cases. It wasn't immediately clear why she wasn't charged in the other cases.

The investigation into her alleged misconduct began in September 2023 after an intern at the state investigation bureau discovered missing information in a case that Woods handled in 2018.

The subsequent probe into other cases she had worked found Woods altered data to conceal tampering, deleted data that showed she failed to troubleshoot issues within the testing process and did not thoroughly document tests performed in case records, authorities said.

In addition to 52 counts of forgery, she faces 48 counts of attempting to influence a public servant and one count each of perjury and cybercrime, for alleged misconduct between 2008 and 2023.

A Colorado Bureau of Investigations internal affairs report released last year revealed that concerns about Woods’ work first surfaced more than a decade ago. In 2014, a worker questioned her testing of evidence and in 2018 she was temporarily removed from working on DNA cases after being accused of data manipulation, the report said.

The fallout from the alleged misconduct is still unfolding. In the first prosecution in the state believed to be impacted by Woods’ work, a Colorado man in June pleaded guilty to lesser charges in the killings of three people in 2017.

Prosecutors gave Garrett Coughlin the chance to plead guilty to second-degree murder partly because they were unable to call Woods to testify in a case that relied mostly on circumstantial evidence.

The deal allowed Coughlin to avoid a possible life sentence for felony murder after his original conviction and sentence were overturned when it was discovered at least one juror lied during jury selection.

Officials said Wednesday that the response to Woods' alleged misconduct had cost more than $11 million.

Among those costs, the Colorado Department of Public Safety last year asked the Legislature for $7.5 million to pay for an independent lab to retest up to 3,000 DNA samples and for district attorneys to review and potentially reprosecute cases that are affected by lab errors.

State officials announced Tuesday they had hired a consulting firm to review the state's forensic program. Bureau of Investigations Director Chris Schaefer said in a statement that the hiring of Forward Resolutions LLC was part of the agency’s effort to “hold itself accountable” following the allegations against Woods.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

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