DA: STATE LAB BACKLOG HOLDING UP CASES

A backlog at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab is affecting a significant number of cases in Cleveland County, according to District Attorney Bill Young.

Young says most are drug cases in which police have performed a field test.  He says each assistant district attorney keeps up with cases awaiting lab test results.  Young described the situation as a "real problem" because the county cannot get lab reports in a "timely manner."

"It's usually a test on, say crack cocaine," Young said.  "We send the sample to the SBI lab and it can take nine months to a year to get the lab results."

That delays the court case, he said, because most defendants will not enter a plea without the definitive lab results.  To a lesser degree, the backlog at the SBI lab is affecting other cases in Cleveland County.

One of those awaiting the results of a blood test is Chancey Ryan Moss, 23, of Shelby.  On the night of Jan.  20, Moss was involved in a car wreck on N.C.  18 North.  He was charged with driving while impaired and reckless driving.  However, he has not had his day in court.  The case was scheduled for June 7 but has been postponed because the results of Moss' blood test have not been completed by the SBI lab.

According to the state, Moss's blood sample was received at the lab in Raleigh on Jan.  30, nine days after the wreck.  On April 16, it was given to SBI Special Agent and chemist Richard Waggoner.  When The Star spoke with Waggoner on June 22, he had not gotten to the Moss DWI sample to test.  Although Waggoner said he could not give specific information about the tests requested, he talked about the process involved when a district attorney's office or police department requests a DWI blood test.  He says the length of time it takes to complete the testing can "vary widely."

"It depends on what's in the case and what's being asked.  If you are looking for alcohol, that's one thing, but there are many drugs and more complex testing is involved," Waggoner said.

Waggoner could not say when he would have the Moss tests completed.  He will send the results to the district attorney's office or the investigating police officer.  The case has been rescheduled for Aug.  30, in Cleveland District Criminal Court.

A spokesperson for the Mecklenburg County Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving says the backlog and delays in getting cases to court creates the potential for drunken drivers to be on the highway.  Cheryl Jones says, under the law, a person charged with DWI loses his license for 10 days.  It's called a "hard revocation."

"After that, their driving privilege is reinstated as a limited privilege, if they can prove they have insurance.  After a full 30 days, the person can get their license back until they go to court," Ms.  Jones said.

Meanwhile, Moss, his family and the family of the man critically injured in the wreck are all waiting for the case to get to court.  Without talking about his guilt or innocence, Moss said the wreck has changed his life.

"I thought I was indestructible.  I know now that I affect other people.  It has changed my life and my wife's," Moss said.

According to the N.C.  Highway Patrol, William Kelly Edwards of Shelby was driving a 1986 Chevy pickup and was hit by a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse, driven by Moss.  According to the records in the Cleveland County Clerk of Court's office, Moss had one earlier speeding conviction in November 1998.

A letter from Carolinas Medical Center placed in the case file at the clerk of court's office described Edwards' injuries as follows:

" ...  multiple injuries, including: lower extremity and pelvic fractures, lumbar process fractures, rib fractures."

According to his wife, Hope, Edwards also had pneumonia and multiple surgeries.  He was airlifted to Carolinas Medical, where he is still undergoing treatments.

After years of working for other companies and living through multiple layoffs, Edwards had turned a hobby into a full-time business, Edwards Appliance Workshop.  He had opened his own successful repair shop just three minutes from their home on N.C.  18.  The night of the wreck, Edwards was headed home from the shop.

Moss had stopped by his mother's house to get her advice on filling out the forms for his health insurance.

"I had started a job three months earlier as a forklift operator and could just sign up for insurance," Moss said.

Moss, too, was taken to the hospital the night of the wreck.  The impact crushed his left ankle and left him with head trauma, a lacerated spleen, and gashes and bruises from the seatbelt.  He still walks with a cane and wears a "boot" on his left foot.  He says the ankle is held together by pins and metal plates.

This was his first, full-time job since finishing a tour of duty with the Navy in March 2003.  Moss had been a corpsman, attached to the Marines at Camp Lejeune.  While in the military, Moss had married his Cleveland County sweetheart, Amanda.  The two had begun to build a life together back in their home community, surrounded by family and friends.

"It took us a while to get settled," Moss said.  "Jobs were not available.  There were layoffs left and right."

While he was still recovering, Moss said the minister of Mount Sinai Baptist Church in Shelby visited him and Amanda three times.  Those visits impressed the young couple so much they've been re-baptized and joined the church.  The couple says they feel called to the ministry.  They often testify to youth groups.

"We say that you can't use God to make you look good," Mrs.  Moss said.  "You have to have the will to know what's right and wrong and care about other people."

"I used God as a background," Moss said.  "I was a young, wild teen-ager.  I went to the military to straighten up and make something of myself.  I know now that you can't live without God."

Meanwhile, the Edwards family continues to struggle.  Hope Edwards had to close the family's appliance repair shop.

"I had to close the shop.  We have no insurance, except Medicaid for the kids," Mrs.  Edwards said.  "My family and Kelly's take care of the children and come here to relieve me.  We are truly blessed for that."