A Maryland state police forensic science expert who took his own life amid allegations he lied in court testimony has left such a long trail of testimony that Baltimore City lawyers say they can never review all his cases.
“It?s going to be very difficult for us to look back at all the cases to see if someone is behind bars whoshouldn?t be,” said Elizabeth Julian, the Baltimore City public defender. “He had been lying since 1986.”
The Baltimore City Criminal Justice Coordinating Council is launching a joint effort among police, prosecutors and the public defender?s office to track how far back their records go in order to review cases in which Joseph Kopera, 61, testified.
The various agencies say it will be difficult to review all the cases because many files don?t exist anymore.
“After seven years, a felony file is destroyed,” Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy said.
Despite the difficulty, Julian said, it?s important for as many cases as possible to be re-examined.
“We have cases where people are serving time and could be in there falsely,” Julian said. “I think that?s urgent. It?s important for justice to be examined.”
A Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division employee, Kopera died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at this home on March 1.
Kopera was under investigation at the time of his death regarding his credentials given in trial testimony. Kopera claimed to have bachelor of science degrees from the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland when, in fact, he did not.
“This should be a concern to everybody,” Julian said. “This was more than just a puffing of credentials. … An expert?s opinion is only as good as the expert giving it.”
Kopera, who had worked with the Maryland State Police since 1991 as a firearms and toolmarks examiner, was previously employed for 21 years in the Baltimore Police Department?s crime laboratory.
Kopera testified about crime scene evidence in state courts in all 24 Maryland jurisdictions. He also testified in federal courts, and in Delaware, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
State police have requested that the Federal Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conduct a review of the violent crime cases Kopera examined.
