The 13-member body is responsible for creating accreditation standards for forensic labs, with an emphasis on making them effective, efficient, reliable, and accurate. It also promotes cooperation and coordination between labs and the criminal-justice system and establishes policy for the DNA Identification Index, which was first established in 1999.
“I am pleased to join state leaders in science and criminal justice on this panel,” McNamara said in the release. “I thank Senator Griffo for sponsoring my application, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos for recommending me, and Governor Cuomo for appointing me to this commission.”
Griffo said, “Scott is a very capable prosecutor and will be a great representative for his profession on this commission.”
McNamara’s term on the commission runs until July 1, 2017. He succeeds James A. Murphy, the former Saratoga County district attorney.
McNamara, a Deansboro native, is a graduate of Syracuse University and the Vermont Law School. He became an assistant district attorney in Oneida County in 1992 and was bureau chief of the narcotics unit for 12 years.
He was first elected as Oneida County district attorney in November 2007 and was re-elected in 2011.