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Richard Willing National Desk USA TODAY National Conference on Science, Technology and the Law St. Petersburg, Fla. Sept 12, 2005. DNA. Not Just For Hunters Anymore. DNA=DNR. 1991. `. 1999. Benjamin La Guer. CSI. `. The CSI Effect— EGs.
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Richard Willing • National Desk • USA TODAY • National Conference on Science, • Technology and the Law • St. Petersburg, Fla. • Sept 12, 2005
DNA Not Just For Hunters Anymore
CSI `
The CSI Effect—EGs • Texas 2003- The Case of the Missing Noggin • Arizona, California and Illinois—”Negative Evidence Witnesses” • Massachusetts- Voir Dire Via Nielsen Rating • Delaware 2003- The DNA Jury Project
Questions For Reporters • What’s a Match? • How Was Probability Computed? • For Defense: Discovery? And what it shows- unreported contributors, allelic dropout, poor mixture separation. • On Appeal: What’s law on post-conviction testing? What was theory of crime? And theory of defense? How would post-conviction testing fit it?
Page 3AFeb 8, 2000 • DNA mismatch found- A British database made a ‘mindblowing’mistake by linking an innocentman to a burglary. The resultcould be a spate of new appeals.
What’s A Mismatch • UNITED KINGDOM • FSS • Burglary • Autumn 1999 • 12 allele, six locus match • 660,000 offender samples searched • Random match probability= 1/37million
What’s “Exoneration?” • Legal versus • Factual versus • Metaphysical • Innocence!!!
What I learned on “CSI” • Hotel Bed Sheets Are Nasty • Visit A Dentist At Least Once • Don’t Make Your Girl Friend Angry
Where To From Here • You tell me….
DNA RESOURCES • BOOKS: • “Abraham Lincoln’s DNA and Other Adventures in Genetics.” Philip R. Reilly, 2002. • ARTICLES: • “DNA: If the test is irrefutable, why doesn’t it always work?” Peter Boyer. The New Yorker. 1/17/2000. • “DNA testing fails to live up to potential.” Richard Willing. USA TODAY. 10/7/02. • “Think DNA evidence is foolproof? Try again.” Adam Liptak. NY Times. 3/16/03. • “Evaluating forensic DNA evidence.” Thompson, Ford, Doom, Raymer and Krane. The Champion. April 2003. May 2003
SITES: • Dnaresource.com. -- weekly news summary • Fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/index1.htm. -- govt database figures • Innocenceproject.org-- see esp “DNA news” by Judge Peter McQuillan • REPORTS: • National DNA Forensic Study Report. Ojp.usdoj.gov/nij. 2004. crime lab backlog survey • What Every Law Enforcement Officer Should Know About DNA Evidence. National Institute of Justice. 2000 • The Future of Forensic DNA Testing. National Institute of Justice. 2004.