JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — The Colorado Bureau Investigator accused of mishandling DNA evidence throughout her decades-long career pleaded not guilty to her charges Wednesday after multiple delays in the case.
Yvonne "Missy" Woods, 65, who is out on bond, is charged with a total of 102 felonies: 52 counts of forgery, 48 counts of attempting to influence a public servant, and one count each of perjury and cybercrime, for alleged misconduct that impacted more than 1,000 cases between 2008 and 2023.
Woods has had multiple arraignments continued after her defense asked for more time to go through the enormous amount of discovery in the case.
At her most recent arraignment hearing in December 2025, Judge Andrew Poland granted one last continuance after Woods' defense requested extra time to have “important discussions” with the district attorney’s office.
Judge Poland said the trial would take five weeks and will start in Sept. 24, running through Oct. 30. She'll have a motions hearing Aug. 27. She has up to seven days prior to that hearing to change her plea.
Woods was first charged in January 2025, following a CBI announcement in late 2023 that she was no longer employed at the agency and was facing a criminal investigation after anomalies in her work had been discovered. Woods worked for CBI for 29 years.
Since her arrest, one conviction in a 1994 Boulder murder case was thrown out due to flawed DNA testing by Woods.
Michael Clark, who had been convicted in 2012 and was serving a life sentence, was released from prison in April 2025. Clark is likely to be retried, Scripps News Denver reported in September 2025.
One of the cases Woods is accused of mishandling is the murder of Roger Dean nearly 40 years ago.
The man accused of murdering Dean received a lighter sentence than typical, and the district attorney said Woods' alleged mishandling of DNA was to blame for the lesser penalty.
Dean's daughter, Tamara Harney, told Scripps News Denver on Wednesday that she wants to see justice in the case so she can move forward.
“I'm just ready to get things moving. Just let's get it on, you know, get it moving forward, get it finished, and then finally put this to bed,” Harney said. “[Woods] needs to realize the impact that she had on so many people by her actions.”
The state has allocated more than $7 million to deal with the fallout from the case. CBI officials have said the case has created severe backlogs in both DNA evidence cases and sexual assault tests are experiencing delays.
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