Former Atlanta Crime Lab Head Sues DA, Police Chief

The former head of the Atlanta Police Department Crime Lab has filed a federal lawsuit against the Fulton County District Attorney and the chief of the police department over alleged obstruction of justice and racketeering.

Donald Mikko’s lawsuit claims that DA Paul Howard told Chief George Turner to fire Mikko after they learned he had agreed to serve as an expert witness for the defense in a case in Florida, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Additionally, Mikko alleges that Howard and ADA Sheila Ross worked hand in hand with their counterparts in Florida to stonewall his attempts to help the defense.

Matthew Billips, Mikko’s attorney, told the AJC that his client had written permission from the department to provide expert testimony in outside trials as long as he put his duties in Atlanta first, but claims that Howard and Turner only interpreted the agreement as allowing Mikko to testify to support other prosecutors.

Billups said that the prosecutors in Florida called up Howard furious over Mikko’s attempts to testify against their case, and Howard pressured Turner into giving Mikko the axe, according to the AJC.

Neither Howard’s no Turner’s offices gave official statements to the AJC regarding the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court on Feb. 27.