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Please see our “Did You Know?” section toward the end of this issue. Great news for the DNA community is the latest announcement by the National Institute of Justice of a grant totaling more than $125 Million to improve DNA Technology.
In The NewsNational Institute of Justice Announces More Than $125 Million to Improve DNA TechnologyThe Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced that more than $125 million will be going to state and local government agencies across the country through the President's DNA Initiative this year. The goal of the Initiative is to ensure that DNA technology is used to its fullest potential to solve crimes, protect the innocent, and identify missing persons. Administered through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), OJP's research, development, and evaluation component, the DNA Initiative has provided over $422 million to state and local government agencies across the country since its launch in 2003.
For more information please go to: Source: www.marketwatch.com New and Ongoing Stories Involving the Use of DNA EvidenceVirginia - Two cases -- a 21-year-old black woman found dead under an overpass, a 33-year-old white woman found dead in her son's bedroom -- remained unsolved until DNA evidence tested in the past 18 months linked them to the same suspect. On Monday, a Roanoke grand jury indicted William Ray Hagy Jr., 48, on a murder charge in McCray's death and murder and rape charges in the slaying of West. Source: www.roanoke.com
Minnesota - It was Monday during the last five minutes of testimony from the last witness for the prosecution that the key piece of evidence came out: DNA found on a 17-year-old rape victim's underwear and on an oral swab taken from a 57-year-old rape victim matched DNA taken from Joshua L. Smith. Smith, 18, is on trial in Ramsey County District Court on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is accused of raping the teen, who is mentally and physically disabled, in the basement of his St. Paul home on Sept. 8, 2006, and raping and brutally beating the 57-year-old woman shortly after midnight New Year's Day 2007 in the parking lot of the Salvation Army on Payne Avenue. Source: www.startribune.com
Florida - A man already in state prison faces charges of raping a woman in Jupiter five years ago after the long arms of DNA identified him as the culprit, police said. Police charged Alfredo Hernandez, 27, with raping the woman in November of 2003. Hernandez is already serving two years in prison after being convicted last September of an aggravated battery with a weapon in Palm Beach County. He is being held at the Madison Correctional Facility in Madison. Source: www.palmbeachpost.com
California - A man facing a possible death penalty on charges of strangling two ex-girlfriends killed them because “they took his pride” when they broke up with him, a prosecutor said in court Thursday. Mark Jeffrey Brown strangled Faye Antoinette Williams – a popular waitress at a City Heights Denny's – in February 2003 and strangled Charmaine Cannon in June 1995, Deputy District Attorney Tracy Prior told a San Diego Superior Court jury. Cannon's slaying went unresolved until police arrested Brown in March 2003 in Williams' death and noticed similarities in the two cases, Prior said. She said DNA and other forensic-testing techniques that were unavailable in 1995 linked Brown to Cannon's death. She said DNA also tied Brown to Williams' death.
DNA testing showed that blood found on Brown's clothing and boots and in the trunk of Williams' red Cadillac was from Williams, Prior said. She said Brown's DNA also was found beneath Cannon's fingernails, and his fingerprints were on a glass found near her body. Source: www.signonsandiego.com
Mississippi - Sixteen years after his arrest, all charges were dropped against Arthur Johnson today when it was revealed that the DNA testing that led to his release in February pointed directly to another man who is in prison for sexual assault. Arthur Johnson is the fourth man to be exonerated in Mississippi since 2006. Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks were exonerated in January due to post conviction DNA testing.
Source: www.jacksonfreepress.com Philadelphia - A police scientist testified yesterday that DNA evidence found on the T-shirt Nicole Reilly was wearing when she was found beaten and strangled in a weed-filled Kensington lot matched that of Bryan McDonald. Kevin Knox, a supervisor in the police Forensic Science Center, said a semen stain on the 15-year-old's white shirt came from McDonald. McDonald, 29, of Kensington, is charged with murder, attempted rape and kidnapping in the Aug. 24, 2004, slaying of Reilly. Yesterday, on the second day of McDonald's nonjury trial before Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart, Knox also said that a sample taken from a rock next to Reilly's body contained Reilly's and McDonald's DNA. And he said a straw from an ICEE drink cup, found near Reilly's body, contained a partial DNA profile, from which he concluded that "McDonald could not be excluded" as a contributor. Source: www.philly.com
Washington - A former truck driver already jailed in Nevada has been charged in Olympia with the rape last April of a Saint Martin's University student. Police say the arrest of 50-year-old Richard Duane Bunch in the sexual assault of a girl in Sparks, Nevada, led them to investigate him in the Lacey rape. Investigators found a link in DNA evidence. Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com
New York - DNA lifted from a ball cap left at a 2007 robbery scene led police to a New Brighton robbery suspect earlier this week. Damon L. Mitchell, 44, of the 100 block of Scribner Avenue, was tracked down Tuesday morning after the city medical examiner determined that his DNA matched DNA on a baseball cap left behind from an altercation inside a Port Richmond gas station in November last year. Source: www.silive.com
Texas - DNA evidence from a deer and a Zavalla man played a role in his conviction of hunting without landowner consent. David Peters, 35, was sentenced to two years in state prison and fined $3,000 last week after an Angelina County jury convicted him. He has filed a notice of appeal. Assistant District Attorney Dale Summa said Monday that investigators took DNA from a sample of deer tissue and matched it to DNA from deer blood found on one of Peters' rifles. They also matched Peters' DNA to that found on beer cans beneath a hunter's deer stand. Source: www.chron.com
California - A woman whose body was found in a San Joaquin County canal more than 30 years ago has been identified through DNA testing as missing San Francisco resident Mary Alice Willey. Willey's body was discovered on Sept. 11, 1971 in the Delta Mendota Canal near Wesley. The victim was described as having numerous and major injuries to her face, neck, hands and upper body. Source: www.mercurynews.com
Did You Know?19th International Symposium On Human Identification Features Advances And Applications In DNA Testing New methods in DNA analysis which are advancing processes in the crime lab will be highlighted throughout the symposium presentations and discussions. "Because DNA analysis methods and throughput capacity are advancing exponentially, DNA analysts face growing pressures to improve laboratory processes and efficiency," explains Promega Genetic Identity Director Len Goren. "The annual symposium on human identification provides a focused forum for DNA analysts to learn new techniques, discuss difficult questions and share their approaches to the complex cases that arise." The symposium runs October 13-16, 2008. Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
The DNA Informant is a free bi-weekly email newsletter, published by DNA Labs International. DNA Labs International is a private, ISO 17025 Accredited, Forensic Serology and DNA Identity Testing Laboratory, founded in 2004 by a Board Certified Fellow in Molecular Biology with over two decades of experience in Forensic Serology and DNA Analysis in United States Crime Labs. Our primary mission is to help our clients identify criminals within their jurisdiction by providing timely, accurate and cost effective DNA testing results. To do this we created an organization based on industry best practices from over 20 State Crime Labs around the United States. We are located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, just minutes from the Fort Lauderdale airport. DNA Labs International’s services are now available for individual cases and outsourcing contracts. Please keep us in mind as you start to consider your outsourcing needs, regular and rush cases and DNA case review. Editor: Karen Daurie |
