DNA evidence

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Animal DNA Brings Abusers to Justice

Genetic evidence spurs convictions, guilty pleas

(Newser) - For three decades, human DNA has been used in court; now, abused cats and dogs are benefiting from their own genetic evidence. Thus far, only a few cases have been won with help from DNA, but its use is “becoming more and more common,” an expert tells the...

Convicts Win Right to Sue for DNA Testing

Supreme Court rules in favor of Texas death row inmate

(Newser) - Convicts can use a federal civil rights law to seek DNA testing of evidence, the Supreme Court decided yesterday. The court ruled in favor of Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner, who was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of his girlfriend and her two sons. Skinner—who was...

New DNA Test Reveals Suspects' Hair Color

Researchers developing new forensic tool

(Newser) - DNA evidence may soon be able to give detectives one more clue about a suspect: hair color. Dutch researchers say they've figured out the markers to determine red or black hair with 90% accuracy, and brown or blond hair with 80% accuracy, reports LiveScience . It's "a major breakthrough because,...

DNA Clears Texan Jailed for 30 Years

Cornelius Dupree Jr. wrongfully convicted of 1979 rape, robbery

(Newser) - A Texas man who spent 30 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit was cleared by a DNA test, and a Dallas County court is expected to exonerate him today. Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51, was 20 years old when he was jailed in connection with a 1979 rape...

DNA Test Suggests Texas Executed Wrong Man

Then-Gov. George Bush's staff failed to tell him Jones was asking for test

(Newser) - A DNA test has cast doubt on the guilt of a man who was executed in Texas 10 years ago—an execution that went forward after then-Gov. George W. Bush's staff failed to tell him the condemned man was asking for genetic analysis of a single strand of hair. That...

How Police Get the Innocent to Confess

Study examines cases where DNA contradicts confession

(Newser) - Confessions aren’t always a reliable indicator of guilt, according to a new study that examined more than 40 cases in which suspects ‘fessed up, but were later exonerated by DNA evidence. A University of Virginia law professor pored over the cases, and was shocked at how “uncannily...

Ex FBI Agent: Amanda Knox Is Innocent

'If she needs a roommate, I'll send my daughter over'

(Newser) - A retired FBI agent says he’s so certain Amanda Knox is innocent, he’d stake his daughter’s life on it. “When Amanda Knox gets out, if she needs a roommate, I’ll send my daughter over,” ex-special agent Steve Moore tells Good Morning America . “The...

Cops Narrowly Missed 'Grim Sleeper' Twice

Missed chance on DNA, staked out wrong house,

(Newser) - The alleged serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper could have been stopped two years earlier if the police had collected his DNA. Lonnie David Franklin should have been added to a DNA database under a 2004 law called Proposition 69, finds the LA Times . He wasn't—apparently because it...

LA Cops Arrest Alleged Grim Sleeper Serial Killer

Blamed for 11 deaths over 3 decades

(Newser) - Police have arrested a suspect in the so-called Grim Sleeper serial killings, which claimed the lives of 11 people over the last 25 years in the Los Angeles area. The suspect is identified as 51-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr., reports the LA Times . All 11 victims were thought to be...

Police Find DNA on Alleged Van der Sloot Victim

Skin beneath Flores' fingernails being tested

(Newser) - Peruvian police found skin under Stephany Flores Ramirez's fingernails, and they're hoping it will yield DNA evidence they can use against alleged killer Joran van der Sloot. The skin is currently undergoing DNA testing, authorities tell CNN , and may not yield definitive results for weeks.

Condo With Poop Problem Wants to DNA-Test Dogs

'I feel like I'm living in a "Seinfeld " episode,' says one owner

(Newser) - A luxury condo in Baltimore has gone to the dogs, its owners complain, and the solution is obvious: have all the resident canines' DNA tested to identify the miscreant who's been leaving droppings around the place. The plan, to be voted on tonight, will cost owners of dogs—including guests—...

Condemned Man Spared During Last Meal

Murder convict Hank Skinner granted last-minute reprieve

(Newser) - A death row inmate in Texas was spared Wednesday just as he was finishing his last meal on earth—chicken, a bacon cheeseburger, fries, catfish, onion rings, and a salad. Hank Skinner, who had been on death row since 1995, was convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend and...

Roethlisberger Admitted Sexual Contact With Ga. Accuser

But not intercourse, sources say

(Newser) - Sources say Ben Roethlisberger told police he did have some sexual contact with the Georgia woman accusing him of assault—but that the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback said there was no intercourse, and that the woman injured her head after slipping and falling. Investigators are still seeking DNA from Roethlisberger, 28,...

Study Casts Doubt On DNA-Matching Technique

Mitochondrial DNA found to vary widely within individuals

(Newser) - A DNA-matching technique used in forensics since the mid-1990s is now in question, according to new research. DNA found in cell structures called mitochondria varies greatly between samples from different tissues from the same individual, researchers found, meaning that forensic units may be mistaken when they exclude suspects because a...

Mystery of King Tut's Death Solved

Pharaoh died of malaria, bone condition

(Newser) - Scientists armed with DNA evidence believe they’ve discovered the long-mysterious cause of King Tut’s death: a combination of malaria and bone abnormalities. The cause of the young pharaoh’s early demise has been a topic of speculation ever since his tomb was uncovered, with theories ranging from gangrene...

Innocent Man Free After 35 Years

DNA evidence clears him of rape charges

(Newser) - James Bain left prison today after serving 35 years for a crime he didn’t commit. The 54-year-old Florida man, cleared by DNA evidence of the 1974 rape of a 9-year-old boy, appeared relieved as he left the courthouse after a judge signed the order vacating his conviction. A bit...

Why Knox Got an Extra Year in the Clink
 Why Knox Got 
 an Extra Year 
 in the Clink 



AND OTHER QUESTIONS
Dec 8, 2009 10:50 AM CST

Why Knox Got an Extra Year in the Clink

Slate visits some puzzlers from the Knox trial answered

(Newser) - The Amanda Knox trial has left a lot of unanswered questions, and some totally answerable ones. Slate’s Explainer feature tackles the latter:
  • Why did Knox get 26 years, while Raffaele Sollecito only got 25? Knox got an extra year for falsely accusing an innocent man (she accused the bar
...

Feds Saw Bloody Outline of Child in Anthony's Trunk

(Newser) - FBI forensics experts found a blood stain in the shape of a child in fetal position in the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car, according to newly released documents. One intelligence analyst pointed out the silhouette in an email to another bureau employee last September. “You can make out...

Clark Tried to Cover His Tracks as Cops Searched

DNA evidence led to arrest for Annie Le's murder

(Newser) - Before his arrest, murder suspect Raymond Clark tried to cover his tracks even as FBI agents and police searched the Yale lab where he worked. Clark, who has been charged with the murder of grad student Annie Le, was seen cleaning areas where Le had been before she died and...

DNA Evidence 'Easy to Fake'
 DNA Evidence 'Easy to Fake' 
Aug 18, 2009 4:57 AM CDT

DNA Evidence 'Easy to Fake'

(Newser) - Think DNA evidence is foolproof? In fact, it's so easy to fabricate that "any biology undergrad" could engineer a crime scene, claim scientists in Israel. Raising troubling implications for a legal system that treats DNA as a gold standard, the scientists have demonstrated that DNA samples are vulnerable to...

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