A large, groundbreaking forensic project aimed at clearing people wrongfully convicted of serious crimes decades ago is stalled at the moment for lack of money.

Peter Marone, director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, said a $4.5 million federal grant has been applied for to complete the effort. He hopes to know by the end of the month whether it will be approved.

In the meantime, he told members of the state Forensic Science Board at its meeting yesterday that samples in 437 cases ready to be sent to an independent DNA laboratory for testing will not be sent until the grant has been approved.

There are also 166 cases being prepared for testing, he said.

If the grant is not approved, the money will come from the governor's contingency funds, he said. Gordon Hickey, spokesman for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, said yesterday that Kaine is committed to seeing the project through.

Then-Gov. Mark R. Warner ordered the project in 2005 after a sample testing of biological material found in just 31 old forensic case files cleared two men of rapes they did not commit. Both men had already completed their prison sentences.

In all, five wrongfully convicted men have been cleared of rape by DNA testing of biological evidence -- swabs, cloth or fiber holding blood, semen or other material -- kept in the files of the late Mary Jane Burton, a former state forensic serologist.

The current effort concerns files she and some colleagues handled from 1973 through 1988 before DNA testing was readily available.

Warner put aside $1.4 million for the effort, then envisioned requiring searches of 164,000 old case files. Instead, more than 534,000 old paper case files have had to be searched, and samples in 366 cases have been sent off for testing.

Marone said yesterday that of the files searched, about 2,166 had biological evidence, a named suspect and a conviction for crimes such as murder, rape and aggravated assault. He said there have thus far been no new exonerations.

The $1.4 million is almost gone, said Marone, who added that he will give the board a full accounting. In addition to staff overtime and costs associated with the search for material, Marone said there could be five to eight samples to be tested in each case at $800 a test.

Meanwhile, the forensic science board created a subcommittee to implement an order from the General Assembly to notify all convicted felons in whose files biological material has been discovered.

The subcommittee, chaired by James Towey, executive director of the Virginia State Crime Commission, will also look at how and when people will be notified about testing and test results, something Marone said the governor's office is also examining.

Shawn Armbrust, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, also suggested that the board consider notifying victims in the cases involved that testing is being done.
Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.