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DNA analysis is now commonly considered as admissible evidence in court proceedings. Today, juries expect DNA evidence to be presented during trial when a sexual assault or murder is involved. DNA analysis is a scientific and therefore unbiased procedure, providing useful evidence for the prosecution as well as the defense. One third of the initial suspects are cleared before going to trial as a result of DNA analysis, thereby saving the taxpayers money, the court’s time, and most significantly — the innocent’s freedom.
DNA was not used as a forensic tool in the United States prior to 1986. For this reason, the courts are allowing cases to be reopened if evidence or technology unavailable at the time of the original trial (such as DNA) provides information that will exonerate a wrongly convicted individual.
Many rape cases now 15 – 20 years old are now being reopened for DNA analysis. Genetic Technologies incorporates FBI protocols, and therefore, utilizes the same equipment and analyzes the same DNA systems as law enforcement laboratories. Thus, the generated DNA profile may be compared to the FBI national database (CODIS).
A rape kit or other physical evidence will offer the biological specimens necessary to extract both the male and female genetic profiles. Exclusions are 100%. If your client is innocent, there will be no doubt. The typical profile generated upon analysis of the thirteen core loci occurs at a frequency of one in trillions.
The U.S. Department of Justice published a research report in 1996 entitled: Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science, which chronicles 28 overturned cases. Since then an additional 65 cases of exoneration have made headlines. Genetic Technologies, Inc. has assisted in adding cases to this ongoing list.
In sexual assault cases, Genetic Technologies can work with the astute investigator or detective to process the crime scene for clothing items, couch cushions or bed sheets for stains consisting of blood, semen and/or vaginal fluid. The examining physician should collect a sexual assault kit. If the victim violently resisted the attack, she may have the perpetrator’s skin or blood beneath her fingernails. Fingernail scrapings may offer the only physical (DNA) evidence, as rape is an act of violence and seminal fluid is not always present.
A sexual assault kit contains vaginal swabs that may consist of a mixture of the suspect and victim’s DNA. The male fraction of this mixture is isolated from the female fraction by washing and removing all cellular material with the exception of the sperm heads. The male genetic profile is determined by analyzing the male fraction (sperm heads).
Tom Jacquinot
Public Defender
Capital Defense Division Western District
State of Missouri