SIOUX FALLS - Crime investigators and prosecutors are seeing the benefits of a modernized state crime laboratory that has been operating for about a year in a new $25 million building in Pierre.

Evidence is being tested and returned quicker, DNA work that once was shipped out of state is now processed in Pierre and lab procedures and performance are meeting high standards.

The new crime lab is part of the George S. Mickelson Criminal Justice Center that also houses the attorney general's office, the Division of Criminal Investigation, law enforcement training and state radio communications.

The backlog in the state crime lab reached 420 cases by June 2005, lab director Craig Price said. The most serious cases were addressed right away, but others waited for months.

"It used to be people would send in a case, [and] it would be six to eight months before they'd get resolved," Price said.

It delayed the work of investigators, who couldn't make an arrest without a DNA or fingerprint match that placed the suspect at a crime scene.

"The turnaround time has improved dramatically, and they do very good work," Sioux Falls Police Sgt. Tim Hagen said. "Now, you're able to progress a case a lot more quickly."

Union County State's Attorney Jerry Miller said delays under the old system were an inconvenience.

Too often, cases would get close to trial because lawyers didn't know how good the evidence was, he said. Witnesses were subpoenaed, police officers and experts scheduled and jurors and victims told when to take time off work.

After the tests came back, defendants saw they would lose at trial and pleaded guilty instead.

"We did it all for nothing. We disrupted everybody's life to turn around and say, 'Oh, we didn't need to do that,'" Miller said. "If you have that in hand, the chances of going to trial reduce dramatically because the defense attorney has very little to complain about."

Price said things changed after a 2004 survey of law enforcement revealed frustration with the pace of the lab work.

The lab had the equivalent of 10 full-time employees in fiscal year 2004 and a budget of $800,000. Three years later, it has 17 employees and a $1.1 million budget.

The lab is on pace to complete 80 percent more exams this year than two years ago and is receiving accreditation for DNA and digital evidence, fingerprints, firearms and tool marks.