Investigating CSI – Background material Table of Contents I ...
Investigating CSI – Background material Table of Contents I ...
Investigating CSI – Background material Table of Contents I ...
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A RAPE DEFENDANT WITH NO IDENTITY, BUT A DNA PROFILE<br />
October 7, 1999 <strong>–</strong><br />
New York Times<br />
By BILL DEDMAN<br />
In an unusual legal strategy that stretches the law to match the developing<br />
science <strong>of</strong> DNA, a prosecutor in Wisconsin has filed rape and kidnapping<br />
charges against a defendant who has no name. John Doe is known only by his<br />
DNA code, extracted from semen samples from three rapes and tested after six<br />
years in a police property room.<br />
''We know that one person raped these three women,'' said the prosecutor,<br />
Norman Gahn, assistant district attorney for Milwaukee County. ''We just don't<br />
know who that person is. We will catch him.''<br />
The prosecutor's strategy is an effort to keep the six-year time limit for bringing<br />
charges from running out. A warrant must identify a person to be arrested, and<br />
this one names ''John Doe, unknown male with matching deoxyribonucleic acid<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>ile.'' Every month, an F.B.I. computer will compare the description <strong>of</strong> John<br />
Doe's DNA with thousands <strong>of</strong> new genetic samples from around the country.<br />
''John Doe'' is typically used in a warrant when the accused is known by an alias<br />
or by a physical description. The Milwaukee case is unusual in that it describes<br />
the suspect by only DNA information.<br />
The case raises several questions about the gaps between science and law. Can<br />
a person be identified on a warrant by only a DNA code, or is a more traditional<br />
identification required, like a name or a physical description? Is the legal concept<br />
<strong>of</strong> a statute <strong>of</strong> limitations relevant in an age <strong>of</strong> DNA testing? Legal experts said<br />
the case had merit but would be challenged.<br />
The case also reveals the promise and limitations <strong>of</strong> the national DNA databank,<br />
one year old this month, which, much like a national fingerprint databank, was<br />
intended to allow investigators to share in the DNA information collected by state<br />
and municipal law-enforcement agencies.<br />
The Federal Bureau <strong>of</strong> Investigation says the databank had helped solve 583<br />
cases, including one involving a serial rapist in Washington, D.C., who turned out<br />
to also be a serial rapist in Florida. Police routinely collect DNA evidence not only<br />
in rape cases but also from saliva on beer cans left by a burglar, from sweat on a<br />
baseball bat used in a beating and from blood on a bullet that passed through a<br />
suspect.<br />
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