Former Colorado DNA analyst pleads guilty to manipulating data in agreement with prosecutors
A former DNA analyst with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation changed her plea to guilty in court on Tuesday to four charges, as part of an agreement in which prosecutors dropped 100 other counts she was facing.
Yvonne "Missy" Woods reached a plea agreement with prosecutors after she was accused of mishandling or manipulating data in dozens of criminal investigations, casting doubt on many cases in which she was involved. She pleaded guilty to one count each of cybercrime, perjury, attempt to influence a public servant and forgery.
Woods agreed to a stipulated sentence of between eight and 16 years of prison as part of the guilty plea agreement.
Woods was charged in Jefferson County Court in January 2025 with forgery, attempting to influence a public servant, perjury, and cybercrime. She initially pleaded not guilty to the charges in February of this year.
CBI said it launched an investigation into over 1,000 cases in which Woods had some sort of involvement. The agency said it looked at cases from 1994 to 2023, when she was placed on administrative leave and then retired.
According to an arrest affidavit, investigators said Woods intentionally left DNA samples out of tests or reports and sometimes would test samples until the results showed what she wanted. CBI asked the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation to conduct an outside investigation into the case since it involved one of its own employees.
Woods worked at CBI's Denver regional laboratory in Lakewood until the facility moved to Arvada in 2016, where she worked until she retired in 2023.
A Colorado man convicted of murder over a decade ago in Boulder was released from prison in April 2025 after his lawyers say DNA evidence in the case was mishandled by Woods. Michael Clark spent 12 years behind bars but always maintained his innocence in the 1994 murder of Marty Grisham.
Last year, state lawmakers passed a bill sparked by the Woods investigation that creates procedures for reporting misconduct.
Judge Andrew Poland set Woods' sentencing hearing for Sept. 8.
