The Saga District Public Prosecutors Office said on the 6th that it had dropped all 13 remaining cases against a former employee of the Saga Prefectural Police's forensic science laboratory over falsified DNA test documents, citing insufficient evidence. The investigation is effectively over.
The former employee had been sent to prosecutors again on suspicion of creating false official documents after the National Police Agency conducted a special inspection. Prosecutors declined to pursue any of the 13 cases.
DNA profiling — matching genetic material found at a scene to a suspect — underpins many criminal cases in Japan, and a finding that a lab technician falsified the paperwork behind it goes to the reliability of evidence courts rely on.
What was alleged
The cases concern the preparation of DNA test documents at the prefectural lab. The source does not give the number of people affected, the period covered, or whether any convictions rested on the tests in question.
Prosecutors gave insufficient evidence as the reason for the decision. The source does not say what the special inspection by the National Police Agency found, or whether the former employee admitted or denied the allegations.