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.
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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, Denver7 reported in September 2025.
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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.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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