Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger is one of eight people named by new State Bureau of Investigation Director Greg McLeod to help him find a new head of the beleaguered state crime lab.

"District attorneys have a special duty to seek justice, not just convictions," Krueger said in accepting the task. "Victims and defendants alike are entitled to the very best scientific evidence available so that the innocent shall not be unjustly punished nor the guilty be unjustly set free.

"Our system of justice demands good science along with good practices and an appropriate level of transparency. I am honored to join the attorney general's search team to find the next director of the crime lab."

Last February, an SBI lab analyst testified that complete blood test results had been left out of lab reports used in court in some trials. His testimony in an innocence hearing led to the release of Greg Taylor, who had spent 17 years in state prison after conviction for the murder of a Raleigh woman.

Since then, investigation revealed that eight SBI lab analysts either omitted, overstated or falsely reported blood evidence. It happened in dozens of cases, including three that ended in executions, though none of those were Moore County cases, Krueger said.

She and other district attorneys across the state called last week for a complete audit of the SBI lab, though the attorney general has not gone that far. He did release an audit of the blood-analysis unit that found 230 cases in which the lab's procedure tainted the evidence provided defense attorneys and provided to juries at those trials.

There have been calls for lab tests to be done by independent labs unaffiliated with any law-enforcement agency like the SBI.

Contact John Chappell at jfchappell@gmail.com.