Dr. Spence posed a trivia question to me earlier today: Is it ever a serious crime to touch anything? My first instinct was to say yes, and then I thought it might be a trick question, so I said no. The following is Dr. Spence's reply:
Mary,
I
will set up the blog in 6 days, ...then start pasting in the writings. I
haven't 100% settled on the name, probably "DNA Technology and Our
Criminal Justice System".
The
answer is "Yes". People who commit serious crimes, ....and are
eventually let out of prison, are forbidden to so much as TOUCH any
firearm. Felon in Possession of a Firearm is a
serious FEDERAL Offense. I have worked on four cases for which the
prosecution's evidence included DNA information extracted off of a
firearm.
When
a DNA expert witness for the prosecution takes the stand and calls the
detection technology "Touch DNA" testing, .....they are feeding the jury
conclusive, prejudicial information,
....RIGHT THERE, simply by giving THAT name to the testing. When
acceptable phrases such as "Trace DNA" or Low Copy Number DNA are
available for use, ......rejecting those and intentionally spewing out
the phrase "Touch DNA", it is nothing more than a scientist,
unethically attempting to influence the jury with information that has
NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE.
When
I was with the Indiana State Police, I was warned to avoid the word
"Victim" when referring to, ....well, ....the victim, ....during
testimony. The reason why is that many cases
are NOT 'WHO DONE IT?" CASES. Often the issue surrounding the trial is
"Was there a crime committed, ....or was there NO crime committed." If
the testifying scientist keeps spewing out the word "victim" it might be
viewed as an attempt to make the decision
for the jurors, ....that INDEED there was a crime and hence, a victim.
It is NOT the scientist's job to do this. It is NOT the scientist's job
to TELL THE JURY, "This is touch DNA on the firearm." The DNA expert has
no means to prove that, .....and by doing
that, they presume to take the Guilty/Not Guilty decision out of the
hands of the jury. It's downright arrogant. Yeah, ....you can tell,
....they piss me off alright. By the way, the defense lost ALL THREE of
those firearm possession DNA cases. The fourth one
is pending in ABQ.
Mike
Forensic DNA Consultant
