Please see our “Did You Know?” section toward the end of this issue.

Topic: Applied Biosystems Introduces New DNA Technologies that Address Major Challenges Facing Forensic Scientists

 

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In the news we continue to see success stories involving the use of DNA evidence. One example is the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, which has achieved great success in identifying suspects and essentially eliminating their backlog. "I think that's because we have a balance - we test our offenders as quickly as we can and we prioritize unsolved cases as well, especially rapes and homicides", said Angelo Della Manna, the state's chief of forensic biology and DNA.

In other states, including California, “lawmakers are urged to address the growing backlog of DNA evidence.” And in Florida and Arizona lawmakers strive to expand the categories of criminals to be added to the DNA database.

Following these stories we are including a number of new and ongoing cases involving the use of DNA evidence.  

State's sampling matches suspects to 1,125 open cases

The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences has used DNA collected from Alabama convicts to identify suspects in 1,125 unsolved cases, building a record of success that has drawn national attention.

Through a database of DNA, where a person's genetic information is stored to be compared to samples from other crimes, investigators have identified suspects in robberies, burglaries, rapes and murders in Alabama and 25 other states, as far away as Maine, Alaska, Minnesota and Montana.

A big milestone, the 1,000th hit, came in September when a serial burglar with an unfortunate knack for cutting himself during crimes was linked to 18 unsolved burglaries in south Alabama by blood left at each scene.

But it was his conviction on another crime - breaking and entering a vehicle - that cracked the burglary cases. His DNA sample was taken as he entered a prison in 2005. Department of Forensic Sciences technicians made the connection in September as they chipped away at a backlog of samples entered into its databases.

CBS' "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl recently interviewed Angelo Della Manna, the state's chief of forensic biology and DNA, for a segment to be aired later this month or in early March. Della Manna said the story focuses on the future of DNA testing and the expansion of DNA sampling from not just convicts but from people who have been arrested.

"Per capita, we are one of the most successful DNA programs in the country and they wanted Alabama's thoughts on these issues," Della Manna said. "I think that's because we have a balance - we test our offenders as quickly as we can and we prioritize unsolved cases as well, especially rapes and homicides."

In the early 1990s, DNA revolutionized forensics, and lawmakers agreed DNA information should be shared across state lines. Laws were passed allowing creation of a national DNA database so states could compare genetic profiles.

Mandatory:

Alabama got aggressive with its collection of samples. Lawmakers made it mandatory to sample all felons, even for lesser offenses such as driving under the influence. Later, they expanded it to include juvenile sex offenders and those convicted of misdemeanors that show a predisposition to sexual assault such as stalking, peeping and lewd and lascivious behavior.

Through grant money from the National Institute of Justice, Della Manna in 2002 paid for equipment and staffing to profile all of those samples. By 2003 there was still a backlog of 65,000 samples from convicted offenders. He applied for more NIJ grant money to erase the backlog, promising to use the federal funds to turn it around with all of those samples entered into the national database by the end of 2006.

The Department of Forensic Sciences gets 1,200 to 1,500 offender samples a month from the state's 13 correction facilities and more than 50 probation and parole officers.

The backlog is now essentially eliminated.

"We are up to date with offender samples," Della Manna said. "On the casework side, we've decreased the backlog of casework to its lowest levels in 15 years.

"That means if someone is raped, it used to be nine months to a year before that case got looked at because of the amount of cases we had," he said. "Now those cases get high priority and get worked right away, with the results reported within three to six months. From a year to two years, three to six months is a great leap."

Alabama now has more than 140,000 DNA profiles in the FBI National DNA Database that are searched against all the unsolved casework around the country. There are 4,023,644 profiles in that database. As the collection grows, so do the matches.

In October 2006, scientists linked three unsolved Birmingham rape cases from 1990 and 1992 to a current rape investigation from the summer. But it didn't stop there. The DNA also hit on seven rapes in Georgia in 1994 and 1995.

They matched the DNA to a 42-year-old man who is in federal prison on an unrelated charge.

Anyone arrested:

DNA has undoubtedly changed crime-fighting and crime-solving, and authorities now are looking to take it a step further. A little-noticed amendment to a January 2006 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act allows DNA collecting from anyone arrested by federal authorities, and also from illegal immigrants detained by federal agents, which means the addition of more than a million profiles a year just from federal authorities.

A handful of states already have expanded their laws to collect samples at the point of arrest, with Alabama considering the proposal.

"It's controversial because everyone has agreed in the past when you are convicted in a court of law, you forfeit a certain right to privacy and that's why you give your fingerprints, DNA and so on," said Della Manna, who is also a member of the FBI's DNA advisory team.

Arrests, however, don't always stick.

"Does that person have an expectation of privacy to their genetic information in a national database forever?" he said. "That's the question.

"I think it has a purpose in solving unsolved crimes and acting as a deterrent to violent crime in a proper context and in ensuring that people's rights aren't compromised," Della Manna said. "There is a place for it, I think."

But not without painstaking planning, he said.

For example, there are about 200,000 arrests in Alabama each year. "It's a huge jump, potentially, in the number of samples that would need to be worked and funded."

In the meantime, Della Manna and the other state scientists have their hands full with their DNA work, which also includes reviewing hundreds of cold cases submitted by cities across Alabama.

"We are excited to keep doing the people's work," Della Manna said. "We've said it before: If there's DNA evidence there, there is no such thing as an unsolved case."

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref01.html

Lawmakers urged to address growing backlog of DNA evidence

A state panel considering criminal justice reform urged the Legislature on Tuesday to immediately find the money to hire lab technicians to reduce a huge backlog of DNA samples that could hold the key to both catching criminals and exonerating the innocent. 
 
The emergency report by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice underscored growing concern among law enforcement officials, defense attorneys and others that the state has fallen critically behind in the voter-mandated testing of DNA from convicted felons, certain misdemeanor offenders and those arrested on suspicion of rape or murder. 
 
As of Jan. 31, more than two years after Proposition 69 authorized expansion of DNA testing, the California Department of Justice had profiled about 740,000 swab samples but still had a backlog of almost 160,000 samples, the report says. 
 
And although the backlog is expected to be less than 60,000 by mid-year, the report says, officials anticipate receiving 240,000 new samples annually. 
 
By 2009, when samples will be required from every adult arrested on felony charges, the number will rise to 400,000 a year, according to the report. 
 
At a time of growing demands, the commission said, the state Justice Department's DNA lab in the Bay Area city of Richmond is already burdened and struggling to fill 20 vacancies for state criminalists, whose salaries are at least 30% lower than those of their city and county counterparts. 
 
Although the report does not say how much state lawmakers should earmark, the commission emphasized that the need for action is immediate and the potential rewards long-lasting. 
 
Already, the report says, the DNA databank is producing "cold hits" at a "remarkable rate — 40 were recorded last month just in Los Angeles." 
 
At the same time, the commission said, delays of six months or more have "become the norm" at local crime laboratories analyzing rape kits. 
 
One crime lab in Los Angeles reported a backlog of 5,000 unopened kits, and officials in Oakland said the city is processing less than half the evidence collected there. 
 
"We can't go on another year without addressing this," said Gerald F. Uelmen, the commission's executive director, in an interview. "The consequences would be criminals remaining at large who should be in custody and people who might otherwise be exonerated sitting" in state prisons and jails. 

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref02.html

Florida — Gang members and stalkers would be among the new additions to the state's growing DNA data bank under a bill that received initial approval Wednesday from a state House committee.

"I suspect a day will come when DNA will be as pervasive throughout the United States as fingerprints," said state Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart. "I think today juries expect it. Their logic is, 'If the offender is at the crime scene, where's his DNA?''"

The bill is Snyder's first as a lawmaker. He was elected in November to replace former Rep. Joe Negron, R-Stuart.

The retired Martin County Sheriff's Office major was spared the hazing that sometimes accompanies freshman lawmakers presenting their first bill. Instead, the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee, of which Snyder is vice chairman, gave the bill (HB 687) their unanimous approval.

"It was such a good bill that none of us could vote no," said committee Chairwoman Sandy Adams, R-Orlando.

The bill would expand the DNA data bank to include mandatory samples from any felony offender, any convicted gang member and some misdemeanor violators, including stalkers and voyeurs.

The DNA data bank, created in 1989, currently has 344,156 specimens that have helped in 5,709 investigations, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref03.html

Arizona - The Senate Appropriations Committee has reversed itself and endorsed a bill to require DNA testing of all people arrested. That's a proposed expansion of a crime-fighting tool.

The 8-to-2 approval came one day after the same committee narrowly rejected the bill (SB1267) on a tie vote. 

State law now requires collection of DNA samples from all people convicted of felonies, a mandate implemented in 2004 under a phase-in approved two years earlier by the Legislature and then-Governor Jane Hull. 

Arizona started its DNA sampling requirement with sex offenders in 1993 and added burglars and murderers in 2000. 

A legislative briefing memo says the bill would result in an additional 75-thousand people being tested each year at a cost of three-point-seven-five (m) million dollars.

That's 50 dollars per sample for collection, profiling and data entry.

The state Department of Public Safety has said it would seek up to ten (m) million dollars to remodel and replace an evidence warehouse that would be used to expand the current DNA facility.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref04.html

New and ongoing stories involving the use of DNA evidence include: 

Georgia - A man received a 20-year sentence Thursday for kidnap and rape, a crime he was linked to through DNA more than a decade after he committed it. 
 
Raleigh Leftwich, 30, was convicted of kidnapping a 19-year-old University of Georgia student at gunpoint at Lenox Square Mall on New Year's Eve 1994 and taking her to his mother's house, where he sexually assaulted her. His DNA ended up in investigators' files because of a later conviction for attempted rape on another woman, a crime for which he served 10 years in prison. He was a free man for just eight months before investigators linked him to the 1994 rape -- which happened just days before the assault that sent him to prison in the first place.  
 
Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref05.html 

Washington - Police thought they had their man, until DNA tests proved them wrong. On Tuesday, February 21, 2007, a twenty-three year old rape suspect was cleared following a DNA analysis. It has been reported evidence taken from the 11-year-old victim did not match that of the suspect. The findings forced the prosecuting attorney to drop all charges. 
 
Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor, John Skinder, gave the following statement on Tuesday, "What we have found out today is that there was male DNA found on the victim's body in numerous locations, and that DNA belonged to a specific person. And that person was not David Lukas Lynch." Skinder says they will run the DNA profile through the national database of felons. Skinder said the family of the victim was notified of the results and that Lynch had been cleared. He says the family is very concerned but would not have wanted an innocent person to be behind bars. They had been hopeful that Lynch was the man responsible for hurting the girl. 
 
The suspect, David Lukas Lynch, was arrested on February 6th. Lynch is reported to just being a few blocks from the home of the girl who was raped when he was arrested. The girl was raped in her home at knifepoint the day prior to Lynch's arrest. Lynch was homeless and was reported as living in a sophisticated underground bunker at in a park near the victim's home. 
 
Police were very surprised to find out that Lynch was not their suspect and have resumed their search for the actual rapist. Olympia police say they have two people of interest. Police have described the rapist as being 18 to 20 years old with a light-brown skin tone. The rapist was described as being slender and about five foot seven inches tall. He is reported as having dark hair with a short haircut and pointed goatee and a mustache. The suspect is reported as wearing glasses.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref06.html

Maryland - New DNA evidence helped Baltimore police solve the six-month-old killing of a 63-year-old woman who worked at the Walters Art Museum, detectives said Wednesday.

The results of the test, police said, led them to a troubling conclusion: Mary Page was killed by her own daughter.

“Every homicide is really a tragic incident, but when you have a family member involved, that’s why I say this is so heinous a crime,” said Col. John Bevilacqua, chief of detectives.

Bevilacqua called the investigation into the crime “lengthy and sophisticated.”

Charged with rape and first-degree murder are Carolyn Redd, 41, and her boyfriend, Lawrence Damarcus Gee, 33, both of Baltimore.

“The final break in the case was two things: incriminating information from Mr. Gee and DNA,” Bevilacqua said. “... The motive appears to be money.”

The results of DNA evidence that police received last week proved that Gee raped Page, police said.

Both suspects are being held in custody.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref07.html

Missouri - Just days after a St. Louis woman was abducted and raped, the St. Louis Police Department has apprehended a suspect, thanks to DNA and a police criminologist. 
 
Police say on February 12, a 29-year-old woman was abducted at gunpoint near Watson Road and Fyler Avenue and forced to drive to a remote area of Hall Street, where she was raped. 
 
Her assailant then allegedly forced her to drive him to Baden Avenue, where he fled. The victim was taken to a local hospital where evidence of the sexual assault was collected. 
 
Within five days, DNA analyst Anne Kwiatkowski matched the DNA of convicted felon -- Donald R. Church, 30 -- with a sample taken from the victim. 
 
Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref08.html

Missouri - A DNA hit prompted Jackson County prosecutors today to charge a 46-year-old man in connection with 1996 abduction and rape of a 9-year-old girl.

Prosecutors charged Dwayne C. Jones of Kansas City with forcible rape, statutory rape, forcible sodomy and statutory sodomy.

Police arrested Jones at his home Tuesday. His name had not come up in the investigation until the DNA hit on Feb. 1, police said.

Jones had to submit a DNA sample to his probation officer to comply with a 2005 law that requires samples from all felons, even ones convicted of non-violent crimes. He gave the sample about two months ago, police said.

Jones criminal record included only non-violent convictions, police said. He did not know his victim nor did he live in her neighborhood.

“He was never on our radar,” said Sex Crimes Sgt. Kevin Kilkenny.

Police collected evidence from the girl. Police developed a DNA profile in 1999. The profile sat in a national database without any matches until this month.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref09.html

Ohio - DNA evidence found in vandalized school buses has led to the arrest of three teenage boys.

The boys, two age 15 and one 16, are accused of breaking about 140 windows in seven Jackson Local School District buses on New Year's Eve. The boys' parents consented to police using DNA samples from their children as part of the investigation.

Jackson Township Police Chief Harley Neftzer said two of the three are students in the Jackson school system and the third is a Canton student. All three were arrested Tuesday.

DNA was collected from beer cans left at the scene and a bloody strip of gauze.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref10.html

California - A Carlsbad man linked to Encinitas and San Marcos burglaries by DNA on cigarette butts was arrested yesterday, a sheriff's official said.

The 44-year-old man was arrested at his home, where deputies reportedly recovered stolen property.

The man is suspected of breaking into It's a Love Thing shop on North Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas on Dec. 1 and taking $5,600 in goods, sheriff's Sgt. Chris Serritella said. The front window was smashed, and some jewelry and clothes were scattered on the ground.

Sheriff's crime lab technicians matched the Carlsbad man's DNA to a cigarette butt picked up at the crime scene. His DNA also matched a discarded cigarette collected at a home in San Marcos broken into late last year, Serritella said.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref11.html

Texas - Recent DNA tests confirmed that a Conroe man sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in 1986 - the crime for which his innocent older brother spent 18 years behind bars.

Marc Brumberger, Montgomery County assistant district attorney, said the statute of limitations has expired and it's too late to try Charles Mumphrey, 36, for the sex assault in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston.

"It's a closed case," Brumberger said. "Unfortunately justice was not served for any brother."

Charles Mumphrey's brother, 43-year-old Arthur Mumphrey, was released from prison last year based on DNA evidence that cleared him of the crime. He was pardoned by Gov. Rick Perry and awarded $450,000 in restitution from the state.

DNA test results released last week showed Charles Mumphrey committed the crime, as he had already told an investigator last year.

On Tuesday, Charles Mumphrey apologized to the victim, her family and his older brother.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref12.html 

Florida - The capture of an alleged killer is in part due to good detective work and the help of a system called CODIS, or combined DNA index system. 
 
CODIS was used in the murder arrest of Michael Jackson, 37, of Orange Park. Jackson is charged in the murder of vet clinic worker Andrea Boyer. 
 
Police collected evidence from the crime scene. That evidence was turned over to the DNA experts at FDLE.  
 
The crime lab analysts were able to match DNA from the scene to a man already in the CODIS network, Michael Jackson. Jackson was in the system because of his conviction in a sex crime from 20 years ago. 
 
So far, CODIS has helped in more than 5,100 investigations in the state of Florida. 

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref13.html

New York - Leg bones still encased in a gray tube sock and work boot pulled from the Susquehanna River 17 months ago were identified Friday as belonging to a Barton teenager who vanished more than two decades ago, a police investigator said Friday.

DNA tests showed a 99.9 percent match between the bones and Eli Vanderpool, who disappeared Nov. 26, 1985, Tioga County Sheriff's Investigator Dan Eiklor said. The tests were conducted at the University of North Texas.

But while Eiklor can now close one of Tioga County's oldest missing persons' cases after many years, the identification raises other questions, namely how the 17-year-old boy ended up in the river -- and how he died, the detective said. The case remains a cold case, the detective said.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref14.html

Washington - A man accused of killing a 76-year-old woman has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder on the basis of DNA evidence nearly six years after she was raped, strangled and beaten in her home.

A DNA sample from a cigarette butt at the crime scene and two hairs found on Elizabeth Crawford's pants matched that of Joseph Anthony Neal, 32, police Detective Brian Vold.

Neal, currently behind bars in Louisiana for violating probation on a property crime conviction, had been forced to give a DNA sample after being convicted of burglary in 1995. The murder charge was filed against him Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref15.html

Connecticut - A construction worker was ordered held on $4 million bond Thursday after being extradited from Georgia to face charges he strangled four women in Bridgeport in the early 1990s. 
 
The gruesome crimes sparked fears of a serial killer on the loose in Connecticut's largest city. They went unsolved until last year, when detectives said they linked Emanuel Lovell Webb to the killings with DNA, including a match from a cigarette butt found at one of the crime scenes.

Webb, 40, arrived Wednesday night in Connecticut and appeared Thursday in Bridgeport Superior Court, where he did not enter a plea. 
 
Webb, a former Bridgeport resident, was already in custody in a Georgia jail when he was charged last year with strangling 34-year-old Elizabeth "Maxine" Gandy to death in Bridgeport in 1993. Detectives said they also used DNA to link him to the deaths of Sharon Cunningham, 39, Minnie Sutton, 37, and Sheila Etheridge, 29. 
 
Detectives started reinvestigating the cases in 2003 and submitted the DNA evidence to the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory. 
 
Police said a match later turned up for Webb, who was being held in jail in Georgia for violating his parole for the death of a young woman in 1994 during supposed "wild sex." 
 
Detectives also determined that Webb was treated at Bridgeport Hospital for a cut to his finger in 1993, around the time Gandy was killed. Police believe he was injured during the killing, according to his arrest affidavit. 
 
Police said that before moving to Georgia in August 1993, Webb had lived in Bridgeport and worked for a Fairfield security company and a construction company. 
 
Superior Court Judge Earl Richards cited DNA evidence against Webb and the gruesomeness of the killings in setting bond at $4 million. 

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref16.html 

Washington - Joseph Anthony Neal’s past might have caught up with him this week.

Forensics experts used a DNA sample Neal was forced to submit following a 1995 burglary conviction to tie him to the unsolved killing of a 76-year-old Tacoma woman.

Based on DNA evidence gleaned from two hairs and a cigarette butt found at the crime scene, Pierce County prosecutors charged Neal with one count of aggravated first-degree murder Tuesday in the death of Elizabeth Crawford. The charge makes him eligible for the death penalty.

Neal, 32, has not been arraigned. He is incarcerated in Louisiana for violating his probation on a property-crime conviction in that state, Pierce County deputy prosecutor Gerry Costello said Wednesday.

“When he’s done his time down there, we’ll extradite him,” Costello said. “We’ll go down and get him.”

Costello said a decision hasn’t been made about whether Pierce County will seek a death sentence for Neal if he’s convicted.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref17.html

California - Physical evidence of rape discovered on the body of a 60-year-old prostitute found in the Lake Elsinore area connects a 27-year-old San Pedro man to her slaying, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

During opening statements, prosecutor John Davis said DNA links Eric Michael Denby to Emma Jean O'Keith's body, which was found off Nichols Road in the Lake Elsinore area in 2002.

Davis said Denby is familiar with southwest Riverside County because he spent time at a family-owned cabin in the Lake Elsinore area.

Denby could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted on charges of kidnapping, rape and murder in connection with O'Keith's Feb. 16, 2002, stabbing death.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref18.html

Florida - A state prison inmate has been charged in two 1998 rapes that happened near Fort Lauderdale after DNA linked him to several unsolved attacks in South Florida and Georgia, the Broward Sheriff's Office said Tuesday. 
 
Vivian Jeff Watt, 36, is in the Broward County Jail but is scheduled to return to state prison to continue serving the rest of his sentence on cocaine possession, auto theft, burglary and robbery charges, while awaiting trial on the 1998 cases. A DNA sample was taken from the former Sunrise man when he was convicted last year. 
 
In January 1998, a 34-year-old woman was abducted at gunpoint from the 1900 block of Northwest 31st Avenue, investigators said. 
 
Her assailant drove her to Alligator Alley, raped her, then drove her back to the street corner he abducted her from, the Sheriff's Office said. 
 
In December of that year, another woman, 28, was abducted at gunpoint from the same street corner. This time, the rapist drove to an abandoned church parking lot to assault his victim, the Sheriff's Office said. 
 
Both women, who worked as prostitutes, recently were able to identify Watt as their attacker when asked by investigators, sheriff's officials said. 
 
State records show that investigators received a court order to bring Watt to Sheriff's Office headquarters last week. Investigators interviewed Watt and said he admitted to being a serial rapist who targeted prostitutes, officials said. 
 
The new charges Watt faces include two counts of armed sexual battery and two counts of kidnapping. 
 
Watt's DNA sample also links him to two other Broward cases, as well as one in Miami-Dade County and one in Georgia, authorities said. 
 
The details of those cases were not available Tuesday.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref19.html

Oregon - Two convicted killers crushed a fellow inmate's skull and stabbed him more than 80 times because they believed he was an informant for Oregon State Penitentiary officials, a prosecutor said in his opening statement at the murder trial for both men.

Prosecutor Don Abar of Marion County also told jurors that DNA tests link Gary Haugen, 45, and Jason Brumwell, 31, to prison clothes stained with the blood of slain inmate David Polin, who died Sept. 2, 2003.

Polin, 31, was behind bars for paralyzing a gang rival in a Washington County shooting. He was sentenced in June 1997 to 15 years in prison for attempted murder, assault and weapons charges.

Polin died in an activities area used for counseling sessions and club meetings. A motive for his death was not revealed until Monday.

Abar said Oregon State Police detectives found three murder weapons: two homemade prison knives and a large steel screw.

Defense lawyer Mark Brownlee, representing Brumwell, suggested in his opening statement that Polin had many enemies within the 2,300-inmate prison because he was known as an unreliable supplier of drugs.

Haugen, and Brumwell are already serving life sentences. Haugen got his sentence for the 1981 slaying of his ex-girlfriend's mother in Portland. Haugen made news in 1999 when he volunteered to donate half of his liver to save his dying sister in Wyoming. Oregon prison officials allowed Haugen to undergo blood testing to determine if he was a good donor match. The testing ruled him out.

Brumwell was one of five men sent to prison for their roles in the 1994 killing of a convenience store clerk in Eugene, and a near-fatal attack on a second clerk.

Abar said Haugen, Brumwell and Polin were all involved in prison drug activity. About a week before Polin's death, Abar said, prison officials sent an inmate to disciplinary segregation after he tested positive for drug use. Abar said the inmate suspected Polin of being an informant, and directed allies to "get Polin."

Moreover, two days before Polin was attacked, prison officers ordered Haugen and Brumwell to undergo a drug test, which angered them, Abar said.

Abar added that Polin wasn't the informant: "It was another inmate."

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref20.html

Pennsylvania - One might say that Robert Sokoloski Jr.'s thirst got the best of him.

The proof of that was an empty bottle of soda with the Hog Hollow Bar-B-Que label; it was found near an abandoned safe that was stolen from the restaurant in 2005.

Now the case symbolizes how suburban police departments are getting more scientific on crimes such as burglary. DNA profiling is no longer limited to those big-city murders and rapes.

"One reason it's become such an important tool is that the (DNA) database has been built up over the years," Warren County Prosecutor Thomas S. Ferguson said.

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref21.html

Did You Know?

Topic: Applied Biosystems Introduces New DNA Technologies that Address Major Challenges Facing Forensic Scientists

Applied Biosystems (NYSE: ABI), an Applera Corporation business, announced the first commercial reagent kit for analyzing degraded or limited DNA; a system with new software for automating DNA testing processes to streamline forensic laboratory workflow; and a new software application for expediting the process of laboratory validation. The company said that it expects the AmpFLSTR(R) MiniFiler(TM) PCR Amplification Kit for degraded DNA, the HID EVOlution(TM) System and VALID(TM) Software will help the more than 10,000 forensic laboratories around the world maximize the use of DNA in human identification.

DNA contained within biological evidence found at a crime scene is a powerful tool for identifying and excluding potential contributors. Similar to fingerprinting, DNA testing can identify and differentiate between individuals. Because DNA can be the ultimate proof of identity, DNA analysis systems have become a significant part of the investigative process.

Forensic laboratories use an integrated suite of DNA analysis technologies, instrumentation and human identification analysis software to effectively process DNA collected at crime scenes. Each of these products and technologies are designed to work in unison to strengthen a crime laboratory's capacity to process reproducible and defensible DNA samples and eliminate sample backlogs. These technologies were developed to enable forensic technicians to more efficiently use DNA in solving crimes, exonerating the wrongly accused and identifying missing persons.

"Because DNA can be found virtually everywhere, it has become a great resource in providing information that aids the investigative process, and there are great demands on forensic labs to process samples in a quality, timely manner that meets regulatory requirements," said Kevin Lothridge, executive director of the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC). "With tools that expedite and expand the forensic laboratory's capacity to make positive identification, we can better support law enforcement and public safety professionals in their efforts to prosecute the guilty and exonerate the innocent."

The forensic tools announced by Applied Biosystems include:

-- AmpFLSTR(R) MiniFiler(TM) PCR Amplification Kit - The MiniFiler kit is the first commercially available DNA testing kit that enables forensic DNA analysts to generate more useful information from degraded DNA as well as from samples that are limited by an impurity - also known as inhibited DNA samples. The genetic information obtained can then be used in criminal, missing persons and mass disaster cases. The MiniFiler kit is expected to be available in March 2007. (Please see related announcement also made by Applied Biosystems today.)

-- HID EVOlution(TM) System - Applied Biosystems has formed a collaboration with Tecan, a leading manufacturer of advanced automation solutions, to co-develop and co-market the new HID EVOlution System, an automated DNA workstation with new software designed to streamline routine casework sample workflow for human identification applications. The HID EVOlution System integrates the Tecan Freedom EVO(R) liquid handling workstation with the Applied Biosystems 7500 Real-Time PCR System, 3130xl Genetic Analyzer and AmpFLSTR DNA testing kits. By incorporating automated liquid handling and data transfer into forensic DNA testing laboratories, the HID EVOlution System reduces the labor required to process casework samples while decreasing the turnaround time. The system is expected to be available in March 2007. (Please see related announcement made by Tecan today.)

-- VALID(TM) Software - Applied Biosystems is also delivering a new software application for forensic DNA laboratories that is expected to reduce the amount of labor associated with conducting validation studies required to implement new forensic DNA technology, such as the MiniFiler kit. VALID Software is designed to help support, simplify and standardize validation studies, while meeting government guidelines, which oversee the standards for forensic DNA lab operation. VALID Software is expected to be available in early summer 2007.

"Applied Biosystems is advancing the field of forensic DNA testing by continuing to invest in new technologies and engage in collaborations that address the major challenges inherent in forensic DNA analysis," said Leonard Klevan, Ph.D., president for Applied Biosystems' applied markets division. "We expect that with the availability of the MiniFiler kits, the HID EVOlution System and VALID Software, forensics laboratories worldwide will be better equipped to analyze complex and challenging DNA samples more quickly and may possibly solve more cases as a result."

For more information about Applied Biosystems Human Identification solutions please visit www.appliedbiosystems.com

Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_38_feb_07/vol38_ref22.html 

Events and conferences for 2007 that may of interest to you include: 

18th International Symposium on Human Identification - October 1-4, 2007

Renaissance Hollywood Hotel - Hollywood, California

Web site: www.promega.com/geneticsymp18/ 

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. 

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Editor: Karen Daurie

Karen.Daurie@DNALabsInternational.com  

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