How Indirect DNA Transfer Is Challenging Forensics and Overturning Wrongful Convictions.

 

Bethany Lee

Mr. Ippolito

Forensics//EF Odd

October 3, 2021

Lucchesi, Emilie Le Beau. “How Indirect DNA Transfer Is Challenging Forensics and

Overturning Wrongful Convictions.” Discover Magazine, Discover Magazine, 15 Sept. 2021, https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-indirect-dna-transfer-is-challenging-forensics-and-overturning-wrongful. 

Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi’s September 15, 2021 article titled” How Indirect DNA Transfer Is Challenging Forensics and Overturning Wrongful Convictions” discusses recent findings that are very important to ensure that justice is brought to a crime’s victim(s) and perpetrator(s). The article outlines indirect/secondary DNA transfer, which occurs when an individual’s DNA spreads to objects and places via other human carriers. Depending on the material where it settles, it can be indirectly transferred as many as six times, according to Cynthia Cal, an independent forensic consultant who specializes in secondary DNA transfer. The author goes on to discuss the 2012 wrongful arrest of Lukis Anderson, a 25-year-old homeless man in San Jose, California who was accused of murdering a wealthy investor who lived more than 10 miles away. At the center of this case was the revelation that DNA evidence and secondary transfer had misled the police and prosecutors at the time of Anderson’s arrest. 

The case involved three intruders who broke into the investor’s home and then bound him and his wife. As a result, the investor died from asphyxiation while gagged. Police found two perpetrators’ DNA at the crime scene and then Anderson’s DNA on the victim’s fingernail. Santa Clara County public defender Kelley Kulick was assigned to the case. Her office’s investigator found that Anderson had been detoxing in the hospital the entire time the crime was committed; he was held in the hospital on 15-minute bed checks all night, so there was no way he could committed the homicide. Through further investigation, her team traced Anderson through the night of the crime: he had been publicly intoxicated and a store owner called the paramedics. It was discovered that the same ambulance that brought Anderson to the hospital picked up the homicide victim just hours later, the same paramedics who treated Anderson later responded to the homicide victim, and their equipment, including the finger pulsometer, was used in both cases. Consequently, Anderson was cleared of the crime, and three men were later convicted in the investor’s murder. This made it clear to the world that yes, indeed secondary DNA transfer is possible. Prior to this case, there was much speculation over whether DNA could actually attach to an object from a secondary, not a primary transfer. The case against Anderson was unique because the shared ambulance provided a timeline and Kulick was able to convince prosecutors to drop charges against her client. Nevertheless, because there is no precise timeline yet determined, it is likely that prosecutors will not be persuaded, and defense attorneys will have to try to educate and convince a jury for the foreseeable future. 

Overall, Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi did a great job of outlining what the discovery that secondary DNA transfer does occur will have on generations to come. As a burgeoning idea that is coming into the radar of more and more police and forensic scientists, any wrongful convictions will soon be overturned. As Americans, it is of utmost importance that each and every individual be granted due process under the law and that people are convicted on the basis of substantiated, corroborating evidence. As we move forward, we strive as a nation to seek justice wherever there is a lack of it. Some weaknesses of Le Beau Lucchesi’s article are that she did not provide enough detail about any other factors that may have led to the conviction of Lukis Anderson. It would also have been interesting to learn how those two men who were later convicted in the investor’s were found and prosecuted years after the fact.  

Can Ancient DNA Methods Be Used to Improve Success Rate of Forensic Id?

 

Amelia Koenig

Forensics

Current Event 3

October 1, 2021

Taylor, Michelle. “Can Ancient DNA Methods Be Used to Improve Success Rate 

of Forensic Id?” Forensic®, 1 Oct. 2021, https://www.forensicmag.com/579779-Can-Ancient-DNA-Methods-Be-Used-to-Improve-Success-Rate-of-Forensic-ID/.

Elena Zavala, a graduate student at Maxstudent Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, completed a Ph.D. in ancient DNA after a master’s in forensic sciences in order to deeper understand the significance of ancient DNA testing and its relevance in modern forensics. Anthropologists use 300,000-year-old ancient DNA (aDNA) in order to assist their studies and identify human evolution and population. “By virtue of time, this aDNA arrives at the lab highly degraded,” and Elena Zavala has proposed a new technique that can be used for forensic sciences braised on this idea (Taylor 2021). According to a 2015 case study performed by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), their attempts at identifying degraded mtDNA from victims of the Korean was only 44 percent; when Zavala was granted access to the unsuccessful fragments, she was able to identify “between 2 and 37x as many DNA fragments that mapped to the human genome than any of the other extraction protocols” (Taylor 2021). Demonstrating its potential long-term benefits on the world of forensic sciences. 

This article and the ideas that it presents in the world of forensic sciences are potentially revolutionary. Although this article does acknowledge that this technology is still being tweaked in order to be more accurate and preservepreserves as much DNA as possible, it is incredible to think that this new method of extraction could allow scientists to access more than twice the amount of genetic material previously thought possible. This case study was performed on victims of war tragedies and scientists being able to identify the individuals lost would allow thousands of families closure that they are currently lacking due to modern science. I also think that it is really interesting how we have been able to convert a method of DNA extraction from historic remains to be applicable to modern crimes and forensic cases. Zavala said she and her team will continue working on the project to test the impacts of this method and trace how much mtDNA canmtDNA that can be recovered.

Overall I found this article not only very well written but also educational and interesting to read. I liked how the author chose to write the article without expressing her one opinion allowing the reader to clearly understand the science behind the extraction and the revolutionary shifts that we can expect to see. I wish, howeverwish however that she included more information about the case study and what other studies they have planed in order to incorporate this new/ remodeled technology into modern forensic practices and labs. 

Two Montana Sweethearts Were Fatally Shot in 1956. the Case Was Just Solved

 

Levenson, Michael. “Two Montana Sweethearts Were Fatally Shot in 1956. the Case Was Just Solved.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 June 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/us/great-falls-montana-2007-homicide-dna.html.  

For my current event, I read the New York Times article by Michael Levenson entitled “Two Montana Sweethearts Were Fatally Shot in 1956. The Case Was Just Solved.” The article discusses the tragic murder of high school sweethearts Duane Bogle and Patricia Kalitzke. Although the pair died in 1956, Detective Sgt. Jon Kadner of the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office in Montana was put in charge of the case in 2012. While police reports from the time of crime show an array of possible subjects, the case previously lacked definitive DNA evidence to identify the killer. By using genetic genealogy, which uses DNA evidence to identify potential suspects by identifying the relatives of the suspect, the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office was able to determine Kenneth Gould as the likely killer. Although Gould died in 2007, the revelations regarding the 1956 killings are nonetheless significant as proof of the importance of new DNA technology.

While Levenson only talks about one specific case within his article, the DNA technology he mentions has profound implications on forensic science as a whole. With genetic genealogy, law enforcement can work to solve what was once considered unsolvable--crimes from decades past can be given closure as new technological innovations allow us to more accurately identify suspects, bringing justice to the victims and families that had previously lost hope.

I really enjoyed Levenson’s article; it was concise, interesting, and well-written. He introduces the topic in an intriguing way that draws the reader inward, while also explaining the science behind the new DNA technology in simple, understandable terms. I only wish that Levenson could have elaborated more on her concluding point, which talked about the emotional impact that such revelations can have on the family of the suspect. I thought this was a very interesting topic and I would have liked to see him analyze the implications of this new technology a bit more.

posted for E. Burnell 

 

Study highlights need to replace 'ancestry' in forensics with something more accurate.

July 14, 2021. North Carolina State University

As our society progresses and diversifies the human population, it becomes more important to ensure that anthropology forensic is being updated as well, maximizing potential and accuracy of the field. Forensic anthropology relates the human race with bone structure, and follows with the categories Asian, European, and African. Furthermore, inconsistent terminology used in the forensic science field (for example, different words to describe a race) allows for confusion, misunderstanding and missure within the discipline of categorizing by historical ancestry. Using a default such as race can be widely misleading in the context of forensic science. Population affinity (in the context of forensic anthropology) is determined by the skeletal characteristics associated with groups of people. Bone structure can represent many other aspects of ancestry that are beyond, or even contradicts one’s appearance of race. It is important that forensic science not only analyzes historical ancestry, but reflects modern change and faults in the far too simple terms and categories.

This is a significant point to be made in the science and justice system as a whole; researchers who evaluated nine data sets on data of 397 people from South America (Cuba Guatemala, Panama, Peru…) found that groups that are geographically close to each other aren't always similar to one another. For example, Panama and Colombia, which share a border, have surprising differences in their skeletal characteristics. This study on ancestry and race is significantly important in forensics science because it works to take steps towards reducing racism in the field , and prevents the common fault of marginalizing specific groups of people. As a field, it is important that there is an emphasis on thinking about physical markers in the context of population affinity, to specifically help understand the origins of unidentified remains - it is important that the forensic field recognize this so that they don’t contribute to the structural inequities and racism. Contemporary remains reflect cultural influence on the different origins of the world.

I found that this article was a little confusing to follow along with, and would have preferred a more direct connection of generalizing terms and how they can contribute to faults and inequities such as racism in the field. I think again, there could have been greater elaboration on how these errors on analyzing origin contribute to the problem or targeted marginalized populations, as it was only brushed upon. Conclusively, I would have liked to learn more about specific examples of how significant faults in inconsistent and too general terms have impacted the justice system or thoroughness of a crime case, in regards to forensic science.

posted for S Blazejczak 

Death of Pamela Shelley

 

Death of Pamela Shelley

This case was about a woman named Pamela Shelly and her mysterious death. Pamela died on route to the hospital in 2001 with a gunshot wound to the head. Some background to this was that her husband and her had just recently split up and her husband had moved in with her kids into a family friend's house. The family friend's name was Joe Hendrick. Investigators initially ruled the death as a suicied but with some more close look at the case, evidence showed that there was no way that she could have shot herself from the angle the bullet went into her head. With a closer look at the case, enforcement found Joe Hendrick guilty and he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

The information in this article goes to show a lot. The case was initially ruled as a suicide. But with technology and forensics science they were able to take a closer look at the case. Scientists found the angle of the bullet that went through her head and were able to tell that it was impossible for her to shoot herself.

I thought this article was solid, but could use a little more. I feel like it needs to explain what the scientist did in order for them to find that angle of the bullet. Also I thin k it needs to give more background information about the case and what caused Joe Hendrick to murder pamela. But overall I thought the article was interesting and solid.

Posted for D Bilyeu