Forensic expert fired over DNA test

A state forensics scientist who said she tested her husband's underwear for DNA to determine whether he was cheating on her has been fired.

Ann Chamberlain testified in a March 7 divorce hearing that she ran the test last September on the underwear of Charles Gordon Jr. Asked by his attorney what she found, she answered: "Another female. It wasn't me."

She said during another hearing that she ran the test on her own time with expired chemicals that were set to be thrown away.

The Michigan State Police, which oversees the Lansing forensics laboratory where Chamberlain worked, announced Tuesday that it had fired her effective Aug. 16 after conducting an internal investigation into violations of department administrative policy.

State police policies dealing with the care and use of property state that "department supplies, materials or equipment shall not be used for any non-duty or non-department purpose."

Chamberlain, 33, on Tuesday declined to comment immediately to The Associated Press.

An attorney for Gordon, Michael Maddaloni, said his client _ who court records show was a defensive back with the Canadian Football League from the early 1990s through 1997 _ disputed his wife's testimony that he acknowledged a sexual encounter with another woman after she found the female DNA on his underwear.

Chamberlain worked for the state police as a forensic scientist since 1999 and was interim supervisor of the biology unit in 2005, according to information posted on the Web site of Williamston-based Forensic Science Consultants Inc., where she began doing laboratory analysis last year.

She received an award for Outstanding Contribution to the Michigan State Police Biological Services in 2006 for her research and method development in embryonic/fetal DNA recovery, according to the Web site.