Posted on 12/26/2008 9:28:29 AM PST by dbz77
The danger of DNA: It isn't perfect By far the most reliable forensic science, it still has limits: Samples can be contaminated and may go untested for years. And collecting it may violate privacy laws. By Maura Dolan and Jason Felch December 26, 2008 In 2004, a New Jersey prosecutor announced that DNA had solved the mystery of who killed Jane Durrua, an eighth-grader who was raped, beaten and strangled 36 years earlier.
"Through DNA, we put a face to the killer of Jane Durrua, and that face belongs to Jerry Bellamy," prosecutor John Kaye said.
* Full coverage: The promise and perils of DNA evidence Full coverage: The promise and perils of...
* L.A. County sheriff's DNA backlog detailed * L.A. County sheriff's officials acknowledge that genetic evidence in 5,635 rape cases may be untested
The killer, however, turned out to be someone else.
Two years after Bellamy's arrest, investigators discovered that evidence from the murder scene had been contaminated by DNA from Bellamy, whose genetic sample was being tested at the same lab in an unrelated case. He was freed. Another man ultimately was arrested in the killing but died before trial.
DNA has proved itself by far the most effective and reliable forensic science. Over the last two decades, it has solved crimes once thought unsolvable, brought elusive murderers and rapists to justice years after their misdeeds and exonerated the innocent. In courtrooms and in the popular imagination, it is often seen as unassailable.
But as the nation rushes to take advantage of DNA's powers, it is becoming clear that genetic sleuthing also has significant limitations:
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
So it’s not the fault with the DNA per-se, but the lab that screwed up by contamination from another sample.
You mean to tell me we’re not gods? Oh, my. Might as well pack up the criminal justice system and give up.
DNA has to be read and interpreted in the proper context.
Bring Jack the Ripper to trial.
Or the cops, or prosecutors, or whomever collected, handled, or stored the samples from the victim.
The lab is the least-likely culprit.
It is true that ANY sample of ANYTHING can dregrade over time... I don’t see where this is newsworthy.
A sample degrading and not allowing an identification is very possible- but a sample degrading INTO a specific pattern is impossible.
It would be like saying a fingerprint degraded over time INTO a match for your fingerprint, and all fingerprints at the site doing the same thing.
Exactly. The Times has just discovered that scientific testing has to be done properly. Whoa, major scoop!
I love these stories where a reporter has just discovered something known to practically everyone else but him and assumes that because he never heard of it before, it must be news.
Collection and testing procedures may need more examination but there is no reason to throw the DNA baby out with the bath water.
Gone (almost) are the days of conjecture, bad witness testimony or conviction by innuendo.
Maybe the shysters should have looked into their brother ambulance chaser's inability to come up with a reliable alibi for a man who was nowhere near the crime scene.
Gone (almost) are the days of conjecture, bad witness testimony or conviction by innuendo.That should be viewed as a good thing.
There is also the small but real chance of DNA clearing a guilty person who is a chimera or mosaic, a person with more than one set of DNA because they are made up of what started out as two fraternal twins that fused, sort of a siamese twin in a single body. At least two women have been told that they weren’t the mothers of their children, only to find out that their reproductive organs carried different DNA than the majority of their blood. The same thing could happen with a male rapist who gets cleared because his DNA he leaves behind at the crime doesn’t match the DNA of his blood.
It’s a good thing that there is so much certain evidence when the crime is severe but I’m not sure it’s a good thing when the crime is minor and something that almost everyone does at one point or another (e.g., speeding cameras, red light cameras that trigger the moment the light turns red, etc.).
Truly. Bad/political DAs are having a hard time making points to “move up” on the bodies of their lousy work.....
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