NORTH BEND — They called them generalists.

The men and women behind Graflex cameras snapped photos of blood drops and bullet holes. They’d collect and examine evidence, attend autopsies, search for trace fibers, write the reports and then testify in court.

James Pex, who joined the Oregon State Police in 1978 to eventually take over the OSP Forensic Laboratory in Coos Bay, was among these jack-of-all trades forensic experts.

But a great deal has changed in crime laboratories and the criminal justice system since Pex’s heyday with the OSP in the late 1970s, ’80s and ’90s: so much so, that he has found work on the other side of the fence.

“Today, the work is much more specialized,” Pex said.

Crime labs are now peopled with experts in one area of the field who provide evidence rather than analysis in court.

“Someone has to put the picture together. And the firearms information, the blood spatter information, the appearance of the clothing, the bullet trajectory through the body —  those kinds of opinions are hard to come by in written reports.”

That’s where Pex comes in.

A forensic consultant and the sole proprietor of Pex Forensic Consulting Inc. in North Bend, Pex works for defense teams outside of Coos County who need experts to reanalyze evidence and provide the opinions the state did not provide.

“I think that this concept of results of tests puts a heavy burden on the prosecution and the defense because they don’t have a forensics background,” Pex said. “Unless they hire someone, it can be difficult to interpret these results.”

At his North Bend office, Pex toyed with a camera much like the ones he used when he ran the Coos Bay crime lab for 12 years. Dressed in a tan shirt embroidered with the words “Pex Forensic Consulting,” the 61-year-old described his life and work after leaving the OSP. He retired in 2002. State funding cuts closed the crime lab shortly after.

Pex Forensic takes cases from attorneys across the country as well as internationally. He’s handled cases in New Hampshire, North Carolina, California and Peru, as well as several for the military in Iraq that were later tried in the United States. His cases are primarily death investigations, but Pex will take the occasional assault case. His services include crime scene reconstruction, bloodstain pattern and in-lab analysis.

“There aren’t enough hours in the day,” Pex said, adding he uses a network of experts to assist in his work.

Walking through his home, where his office, laboratory and workroom are housed, Pex showed off the equipment he uses to examine evidence. There are comparison microscopes, four digital cameras and an X-ray machine. The X-ray can be used to find gun powder residue on bloody material.

“Whatever I have under here I can magnify and document in terms of evidence,” Pex said. “One of the important things (in) evidence examination is documenting what you do when you take the stand. ... You have to be prepared for that.

“In homicide investigation ... people don’t always tell the truth. It comes down to the physical evidence.”

Steve Lindsey, an attorney in Portland who uses Pex’s services in criminal defense cases, said not only has he been of assistance before and during trial, Pex also has taught him a great deal about forensics.

“When you work for the defense — you get beat up on the stand — he has suffered through that for my cases,” Lindsey said.

He added that he sees the expert as a friend and mentor.

“I regard him as a man of high integrity,” Lindsey said.

Beginnings

Prior to joining the State Police, Pex said he started his career in a Medford hospital in the late 1970s, when he began helping investigators of local crime lab to test dried blood for basic blood types. Eventually, he was asked to come to work for the State Police as a criminalist.

An Oregon native, who was raised in Klamath Falls, Pex worked for OSP in Lane County for 12 years before moving to North Bend in 1990, where he raised his family.

Despite his many years in forensics, Pex said he hit a real turning point in his career in 2002, when he worked for the defense in a Montana case in which a man was accused of a 1964 murder. A civil attorney was defending the man because they had been high school friends. Despite the rag-tag defense team, Pex made a discovery — the man didn’t do it.

“Not only that, I could see who did,” Pex said, recalling a discussion with a district attorney who didn’t care for his results. “He had his man as far as he was concerned and wasn’t interested in any more facts.”

The case went to trial and the man was proven innocent, although the true culprits never were arrested.

“I think that 99 percent of law enforcement is out there to do the right thing. But like any segment of the population (some are) not,” Pex said.

But, with generalists like Pex still analyzing the facts and evidence, more of the actual criminals are going to jail.

“Most of the time the state gets it right,” he said. “But, we act more like quality assurance just to make sure they got it right.”