'Shameful': Washington murder case dismissed after DNA evidence is lost
'Shameful': Washington murder case dismissed after DNA evidence is lost
Court records show the private lab that did the testing, Bode Technology Group Inc., lost the evidence and it can’t be retested.
According to a document filed in D.C. Superior Court, police said DNA discovered under Pernell’s fingernails matched the DNA profile of Young. The probability the DNA did not belong to Young was one in 3.4 billion in the United States African American population.
But that DNA evidence — presented in court as a match in 2019 — suddenly became a mismatch two days before trial. Prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the defense attorneys and the private lab that did the original testing will not say why.
“It’s shameful. We have a right to know what happened,” said Pernell’s daughter, Yolanda Pernell-Vogelson.
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Are we not going to acknowledge how fucked up it is that someone was behind bars for five years before getting a trial?
Investigations can take a long time. You can invoke your right to a speedy trial, but often that means you can't mount a comprehensive defense either.
Canada has a law that avoids this extended bullshit.
This was an ordinary case, reflective of a shift in Canadian law brought about by the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2016 decision in the Jordan case. Since then, Canada’s judiciary takes the timeliness of trials more seriously than ever before. Jordan created presumptive ceilings – 18 months for provincial court trials and 30 months for superior court trials. If a trial takes longer than the ceiling, courts presume it is unreasonable.