Lawyers in a 2008 DUI case subpoenaed Madden to ask her about accuracy checks she did on equipment in the San Francisco Police’s narcotics lab. But on Friday the retired lab technician was under investigation for stealing cocaine while on the job and so she invoked her fifth amendment right against self incrimination.

"That's the difficulty now. We won't be able to cross examine her. We won't be able to test her credibility," said criminal defense attorney Maria Lopez.

Madden's court appearance came the same day as the public defender's office awaited the release of an estimated 2,000 pages assembled by investigators into Madden's work at the lab and her personal life. The report includes portions of her personnel file and a taped police interview following a 2007 arrest for domestic violence.

"From a human perspective, is that really fair to expose my client's private life?" said Paul Demeester, Madden's attorney.

A reported 350 narcotics cases have been dismissed by the district attorney's office since the drug lab closed after the madden investigation became public in early March.

The focus is now shifting to the troubled crime lab's DNA analysis department and its 250 case backlog.

The state attorney general was expected next week to complete an audit of the DNA division -- even as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors gear up Monday for a hearing on the crime lab scandal.

"It really is almost hard to believe that the complete implosion of the crime lab is due to just one technician," said SF supervisor Ross Mirkarimi

That hearing will also look at the costs incurred by the closure of the narcotics lab. Police tell us that since March 9, 435 narcotics tests have been outsourced -- at a cost to the county of $75 to $125 a piece.