Maybe youve been reading a lot lately about the development of fetal DNA tests based on a curious fact -- that the blood of a pregnant woman contains tiny bits of DNA of the fetus.

Several groups have recently used this fact to sequence the entire genome of a fetus and pick up the presence of extra chromosomes or even individual gene variants that would render the baby prone to health conditions.

Its an important development with much promise, health researchers say, because it offers a way to detect genetic abnormalities very early, without the small but real risk of miscarriage that comes with todays widely used screening technologies: amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.

But the promise of this science -- much of it developed with government funds -- could be stymied by the thorny issue of intellectual property rights, argues a group of Stanford scientists in the journal Science Translational Medicine. (And you'll only get to read the abstract of the article unless you pay, because someone else owns the rights to it.)

Lauren Sayres and coauthors note that lots of patents have been granted for various slices of this technology. And one particular company, San Diegos Sequenom, is the exclusive licensee of many of them, including a broad one based on work of scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Sequenom has developed a test for trisomy 21 (three copies of chromosome No. 21, which causes Down syndrome), among other tests, but has been in litigation with and issued warnings to various other companies, including Ariosa Diagnostics Inc., arguing that they are infringing on its patent license agreements. Ariosa markets the Harmony Prenatal Test for trisomy 21.

The authors list all of the U.S. patents, inventors and licensees theyre aware of, and even they say its unclear which ones might trump which others. We shall see. Still, if Sequenom prevails and becomes a virtual monopoly in this area, would it matter?

The authors argue yes. They cite cost as one reason: Sequenoms trisomy 21 test goes for $1,900, they say, likely beyond the reach of most women and particularly the uninsured -- even if insurance companies pick up the bulk of the tab. And, they add, monopolies can impede improvements: They point to a company, Verinata Health, which claims it has an improved method for detecting trisomy 21. If Verinata Health or other companies are prevented from developing more accurate tests, patient care may suffer, they write.

DNA patent fights have a way of dragging on ... and on ... and on. And then theres the issue of whether genes themselves (versus technologies involving genes) can be patented. Read more about that in this blog post by my colleague Eryn Brown. The case centers on patents for genetic tests that use variants of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes to identify women at heightened risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

Continue reading here:
Fetal DNA tests: Will patents work against patients?

Former Garland resident Steven Alan Thomas has been arrested for the murder of a 73-year-old Texas woman in 1980. (credit: Williamson Co. Sheriffs Office)

GEORGETOWN (CBSDFW.COM/AP) Investigators say DNA evidence in a 1980 Central Texas killing led them to a former Garland resident.

The Williamson County Sheriffs Office on Tuesday announced the arrest of 53-year-old Steven Alan Thomas on a capital murder charge.

The case involves the November 1980 beating, sexual assault and strangling of 73-year-old Mildred McKinney. She was discovered dead in her southwest Williamson County home.

In the 1980s, well known serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to killing McKinney, but DNA evidence later proved he was not the killer.

Thomas was arrested Monday in Austin, where he had been living. Investigators say Thomas has denied knowing the victim or assaulting her.

Sgt. John Foster says DNA from Thomas was obtained at a previous time. Foster declined to provide further details.

The investigation into the murder of Mildred McKinney is ongoing. Anyone with information about the case or Steven Thomas is asked to contact the Williamson County Sheriffs Office at (512) 943-1300.

Bond has been set at $1.5 million for Thomas. Williamson County jail records Tuesday did not list an attorney for him. ( Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The rest is here:
DNA Links Former Garland Resident To 1980 Murder

July 24, 2012

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

New research suggests polar bears and brown bears come from the same DNA as ancient bears. In an international study, led by Penn State University and the University at Buffalo, researchers have found that polar bear populations changed with climatic events over the past million years, with fewer polar bears roaming the Earth in times of warmer weather.

This new research also suggests the relationship between brown bears and polar bears is tied to climate change, noting that the two species interbred with one another until recently. This interbreeding between the two species may have also been tied to changes in the Earths climate when a glacial disappearance brought the two bears closer together.

Maybe were seeing a hint that in really warm times, polar bears changed their life-style and came into contact, and indeed interbred, with brown bears, said co-lead author Stephan Schuster, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State.

The teams findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This new study goes beyond what other studies have documented, taking DNA samples from existing polar bears, black bears and brown bears and comparing the results to DNA from an ancient polar bear skull. The team performed a deep genome analysis to compare the DNA between the species and found that the split between the brown and the polar bears occurred anywhere from 4 to 5 million years ago; around the same time ice began to cover the Arctic Sea. This evidence also shows that polar bears could have roamed the earth as early as 5 million years ago.

Schuster explained the survey in a statement, saying: We generated a first-rate set of data, including deep sequence coverage for the entire genomes of a polar bear, three brown bears, and a black bear, plus lower coverage of 23 additional polar bears, including a 120 thousand year old individual; very few vertebrate species have such comprehensive genomic resources available.

We showed, based on a consideration of the entire DNA sequence, that earlier inferences were entirely misleading, said another co-author, Webb Miller, a Penn State professor of biology and computer science.

This means polar bears definitely persisted through warming periods during Earths history, said Charlotte Lindqvist, the studys senior author.

Read the original post:
DNA Shows Polar Bears Are Ancient, Related To Brown Bears

24 July 2012 Last updated at 02:28 ET By Helen Briggs BBC News

A race to unlock genetic clues behind living to 100 is set to begin next year, after a US team announced it will compete for the $10m Genomics X Prize.

Genetic entrepreneur Dr Jonathan Rothberg is entering the challenge to identify genes linked to a long, healthy life.

His team - and any other contenders - will be given 30 days to work out the full DNA code of 100 centenarians at a cost of no more than $1,000 per genome.

The race will start in September 2013.

Under the rules of the Archon Genomics X Prize, teams have until next May to register for the competition.

Dr Rothberg's team from Life Technologies Corporation in California is the first to formally enter the race.

Being able to sequence the full human genome at a cost of $1,000 or less is regarded as a milestone in science.

It is seen as the threshold at which DNA sequencing technology becomes cheap enough to be used widely in medicine, helping in diagnosis and in matching drugs to a patient's genetic make-up.

If they can do a human genome in two hours with one little machine, it's just stunning. We have come a long way.

Read more from the original source:
DNA race to unlock ageing secrets

(CBS News) It's now easier than ever to map your DNA through online services. The goal is usually to discover more about your body through science, but the technology sometimes yields unexpected results, as Neil Schwartzman discovered.

Schwartzman was just 10 days old when he was given up for adoption in 1960. He looked for his biological mother his entire life. He grew up in Montreal, with loving adoptive parents, but had questions about who he was.

Schwartzman describes the feeling as akin to "having a picture puzzle and two pieces missing."

But then he turned to technology. "I opted to do what some people might find a little strange: I spit in a test tube and sent it off to California."

Schwartzman sent that test tube to the Silicon Valley Company, 23andMe, named after the 23 pairs of chromosomes in human DNA. In this region built on information technology, the information gathered by 23andme is the most personal of all: genetic code.

23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki said, "23andMe just really strongly believes this is something that you should get, it's your information."

Wojcicki is married to Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. Her goal is to make genetic information as accessible as Google has made so much other information. On the 23andMe website users can learn how their own genetic makeup may play a role in more than 200 diseases and physical traits.

"We started the company really with the idea that we wanted to do something revolutionary, where consumers could come, learn tons of information about themselves and really start to revolutionize health care," Wojcicki said.

That's a mission that grew more urgent for Wojcicki when 23andMe's testing revealed that her husband carries the genetic variant for Parkinson's disease. "Suddenly it became very personal," Wojcicki said. "That my husband is at-risk, and potentially some of my children are at risk. We've got to do something."

But DNA isn't just about health. Online users of 23andMe can sometimes unlock long-hidden family secrets or find long-lost relatives.

Read the original post:
Online DNA mapping helps siblings find each other

Adam Miller, The Canadian Press Published Sunday, Jul. 22, 2012 6:27AM EDT Last Updated Monday, Jul. 23, 2012 7:18AM EDT

A national database to help identify missing persons and unidentified remains is more than a year away, but families and experts say that DNA is the missing piece of the puzzle that the initiative needs.

Judy Peterson has been a proponent of such a database since her daughter, Lindsey Jill Nicholls, went missing in 1993.

"I think the DNA databank is just the missing piece," she said from her home in Sidney, B.C. "I believe it will happen, I just can't understand why it's taking so long."

Peterson started a petition in 2003 called Lindsey's Law, calling for DNA from missing persons and unidentified remains to be added to the National DNA Data Bank, which was set up in 2000 to help police with their investigations.

Melanie Alix's son Dylan Koshman went missing in Edmonton in October, 2008 and she too has been petitioning the government for such an addition to the data bank.

"I'd give my life to find my son," she said from her home in Moose Jaw, Sask.

Alix and her husband gave DNA samples to police in Edmonton after her son's disappearance, but they were not accessible to law enforcement in other provinces because there is no national DNA database for missing persons and unidentified remains.

A new index called the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains would store descriptive information on these cases and allow for them to be compared nationally for the first time when it launches in late 2013, but it won't include DNA.

The federal government has been resistant to amending the National DNA Data Bank to include the thousands of missing persons and hundreds of unidentified bodies across the country. It cites privacy concerns and high costs.

Read more:
No DNA in new missing and unidentified persons database

WHEELING, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

ACGT, Inc., a Wheeling-based Contract Research Organization providing DNA sequencing and genomic analysis services, announces its new accelerated DNA sequencing turnaround time exclusively to Chicago area researchers. With its Rush services, DNA samples prepared and ready for pickup in the afternoon will be collected and processed that day, with sequencing data available the following morning. For Chicago-based researchers, the new service reduces their wait time by one day with the added convenience of a personal pickup, or DNA sample drop-off of at an on-campus drop box.

The new Rush service comes by way of ACGTs recent addition of a second shift in its laboratory after regular business hours. Chicago is a great place for academic and medical research, explains Heron Yu, Ph.D., the founder and President of ACGT, Inc., Its where I studied and worked as a researcher for over ten years. At ACGT, were proud of the work weve done for local universities, and were happy to offer them at no additional cost the same excellent service at a faster turnaround time.

About ACGT, Inc.

ACGT, Inc. was established in 1993 to provide the research community with high quality DNA sequencing services. As the demand for DNA sequencing and genomics analysis increased, ACGT, Inc. repeatedly expanded its services. It currently offers next generation DNA sequencing, gene expression analysis, cloning, library construction, mutagenesis, genotyping and genetic stability testing. ACGT, Inc. is CLIA registered and GLP-compliant. FDA submission support is available for most projects.

You can learn more about ACGT, Inc. and the services they provide at their website: http://www.acgtinc.com.

Go here to read the rest:
ACGT, Inc. to Provide Overnight DNA Sequencing Services to Chicago-Based Researchers

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BioPet Vet Lab, a leading animal biotechnology company specializing in DNA applications, has launched IntegriMEAT, a DNA-source verified program aimed to produce an identification and tracking program for Americas livestock. Through a partnership with Southern Natural Foods, a premier meat processor based in Knoxville, BioPet Vet Labs pilot program will first track beef from farm to table providing consumer insight into food sources and product claims.

According to Jim Simpson, president of Southern Natural Foods, the program requires point of origin registration with BioPet by producers, as a DNA sample is taken from existing stock and new birth stock. Then, BioPet maintains a database of cattle at each registered farm and a quick response (QR) code, created at the time of rendering, is maintained through distribution by Southern Natural Foods. Final packaging includes the QR code on the label enabling consumers to easily trace their beef from its farm of origin.

Weve always looked at food safety and how DNA applies to food safety, said Simpson. What we recognized was the need for a program that would encourage more integrity in food production. The name IntegriMEAT symbolizes that integrity can be obtained in our nations food supply chain.

Officials with BioPet explain its partnership with Southern Natural Foods stemmed from the meat processors commitment to offering locally raised beef that exceeds the USDAs All-Natural requirements.

Presently, consumers do not have an absolute way of knowing the exact source and quality of their meat, said Tom Boyd, BioPet Founder and CEO. People like knowing where their meat comes from, the conditions in which it was raised, and BioPet and Southern Natural Foods are the first to put this information into the consumers hands.

According to Corona Research in Denver, 74 percent of people in the U.S. believe traceability in the meat market increases its quality while 91 percent would pay more for beef that can be source verified. DNA-source verified beef provides consumers with peace of mind at the point of sale and also facilitates a targeted, rapid response in time of food safety events. Unlike external forms of identification for livestock, DNS genotyping is an unalterable form of identification that can be tested throughout an animals life and post-slaughter.

Furthermore, Boyd explains that using smartphone technology, consumers have the ability to scan the bar code associated with their meat, either on a package at the grocery store, at a display at the butcher shop or on a restaurant menu and therefore track it from farm to fork.

With this farm to table mentality and tracking technology, meat producers build a relationship of trust and accountability with the consumer, said Boyd.

Boyd also explains that in addition to offering public DNA-source verified beef, BioPet also offers the producer valuable herd information. Farms registered in the program have harvest data readily available, allowing the farmer to make culling decisions based on genetic information, said Boyd. BioPet will soon increase the functionality of the online database to provide producers a secure, user-friendly system to manage their herds.

Read more:
BioPet Vet Lab Unveils IntegriMEAT™, a DNA Tracking Program for Livestock

A national database to help identify missing persons and unidentified remains is more than a year away, but families and experts say that DNA is the missing piece of the puzzle that the initiative needs.

Judy Peterson has been a proponent of such a database since her daughter, Lindsey Jill Nicholls, went missing in 1993.

I think the DNA databank is just the missing piece, she said from her home in Sidney, B.C. I believe it will happen, I just cant understand why its taking so long.

Ms. Peterson started a petition in 2003 called Lindseys Law, calling for DNA from missing persons and unidentified remains to be added to the National DNA Data Bank, which was set up in 2000 to help police with their investigations.

Melanie Alixs son Dylan Koshman went missing in Edmonton in October, 2008 and she too has been petitioning the government for such an addition to the data bank.

Id give my life to find my son, she said from her home in Moose Jaw, Sask.

Ms. Alix and her husband gave DNA samples to police in Edmonton after her sons disappearance, but they were not accessible to law enforcement in other provinces because there is no national DNA database for missing persons and unidentified remains.

A new index called the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains would store descriptive information on these cases and allow for them to be compared nationally for the first time when it launches in late 2013, but it wont include DNA.

The federal government has been resistant to amending the National DNA Data Bank to include the thousands of missing persons and hundreds of unidentified bodies across the country. It cites privacy concerns and high costs.

Ray Boughen, Conservative MP from Saskatchewan, said that costs could be lowered if DNA from these cases was voluntarily incorporated into the existing database for convicted offenders and crime scenes.

Read the rest here:
Exclusion of DNA in missing persons database draws criticism

Kiwis who want instant access to the secrets of their DNA may be disappointed, researchers have warned - but the future for those with rare diseases is far brighter.

Otago University student and former Wanaka farmer Steve Anderson wants to become the first New Zealander to have his full genetic coding recorded and given to him.

Anderson said he had been told the analysis of more than three billion pieces of information could be presented on about 30 compact discs.

The 57-year-old said his request was inspired by an interest in the ageing process and made possible by the steadily decreasing cost of genetic coding.

"If you think back years ago, it took millions of dollars to study one genome, now, it's only thousands of dollars, and you can do so much more."

Anderson said the data he collected could be put to good use in the future as the field of genetic research developed.

"Imagine if you could pull up your DNA coding, look at a certain expression of genes and use them to make you healthier, or know about something you're going to get in the future."

Auckland University associate professors Cristin Print and Andrew Shelling, who both work in the field of genetic research, said other Kiwis had had their genomes sequenced, but the scale of Anderson's request was unique.

Ordinary people who wanted revelations from their DNA were likely to be disappointed, they said.

While the mapping could be "life-changing" for those with rare diseases or families with genetic problems, Shelling said most people were unlikely to benefit significantly from the information.

Continued here:
DNA access may bring only disappointment

A national database to help identify missing persons and unidentified remains is more than a year away, but families and experts say that DNA is the missing piece of the puzzle that the initiative needs.

Judy Peterson has been a proponent of such a database since her daughter, Lindsey Jill Nicholls, went missing in 1993.

I think the DNA databank is just the missing piece, she said from her home in Sidney, B.C. I believe it will happen, I just cant understand why its taking so long.

Peterson started a petition in 2003 called Lindseys Law, calling for DNA from missing persons and unidentified remains to be added to the National DNA Data Bank, which was set up in 2000 to help police with their investigations.

Melanie Alixs son Dylan Koshman went missing in Edmonton in October 2008 and she, too, has been petitioning the government for such an addition to the data bank.

Id give my life to find my son, she said from her home in Moose Jaw, Sask.

Alix and her husband gave DNA samples to police in Edmonton after her sons disappearance, but they were not accessible to law enforcement in other provinces because there is no national DNA database for missing persons and unidentified remains.

A new index called the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains would store descriptive information on these cases and allow for them to be compared nationally for the first time when it launches in late 2013, but it wont include DNA.

The federal government has been resistant to amending the National DNA Data Bank to include the thousands of missing persons and hundreds of unidentified bodies across the country. It cites privacy concerns and high costs.

Ray Boughen, Conservative MP from Saskatchewan, said that costs could be lowered if DNA from these cases was voluntarily incorporated into the existing database for convicted offenders and crime scenes.

Visit link:
DNA not used in new database for missing persons and unidentified remains

Jul 19, 2012 6:05pm

A boxer could be facing jail time following his most recent boxing match, thanks to a bloody nose and a resourceful FBI agent.

Martin Tucker, a light welterweight, won his last boxing match, but a bloody cotton swab discarded at the ring was picked up by undercover FBI agent Robert Schmitz, who was investigating a bank robbery.

Schmitz suspected Tucker was involved in a 2009 armed robbery of a credit union in Temperance, Mich. Subsequent tests of the DNA collected from the bloody swab proved his hunch correct, according to court filings.

Tucker, a roofer and part-time boxer, was arrested this week, and ordered held withoutbail Wednesday. Hes accused of using a semi-automatic weapon in the theft of nearly $5,400.

One other man involved in the robbery, Quentin Sherer, was arrested in November 2011.

During his investigation of the robbery, Schmitz began looking through Sherers social networking profiles and found a picture of Sherer and Tucker together, according to court documents filed by Schmitz. Tucker matched the physical description of the unknown suspect in the 2009 robbery. Schmitz began looking into Tucker.

In a Myspace Internet search, [Schmitz] learned that Tucker was featured in a boxing match in Toledo, Ohio, the affidavit reads. During the match, Tucker sustained a bloody nose, and [Schmitz] was able to obtain a discarded Q-tip that contained Tuckers blood.

That Q-tip was submitted to an FBI lab, where it was found that Tuckers DNA matched the DNA found on a mask worn by one of the alleged bank robbers, as well as the steering wheel of the getaway vehicle.

See the article here:
DNA From Boxer's Bloody Swab Leads to Arrest

DNA tests could reveal the identities of bodies found in an underworld graveyard in Sydney.

The tests could verify the bodies of Melbourne hitman Christopher Dale Flannery and missing heiress Juanita Neilsen, presumed victims of Sydney gangsters in the 1970s and '80s, News Ltd reports.

The pair's DNA will be be tested against samples from bones found in sand dunes at Kurnell, near Botany Bay, by workers building a desalination plant in 2005.

Soon after police contacted relatives of Flannery, known as Mr Rent-a-Kill, to obtain a DNA sample, the report says.

NSW homicide commander Detective Superintendent Michael Willing says the remains belong to two males and there is the possibility of a third person.

Police will match samples against their missing persons database.

There is speculation the dunes could have been a dumping ground for killers such as Neddy Smith, the report says.

'Because of that, some people are suggesting they (the bones) could be Flannery's or a missing prostitute called Lyn Woodward,' Det Willing told News Ltd.

'To be honest, we do not have any idea whose remains they are.'

View original post here:
DNA could reveal ID of Sydney bodies

Public release date: 17-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Deborah Marshall d.mashall@griffith.edu.au 61-040-872-7734 Griffith University

Griffith University researchers will analyse DNA sequences from ancient human remains, some dating back 45,000 years, to determine the origins of the peoples of South-east Asia and Australia.

In collaboration with the Universities of Auckland, Copenhagen and New South Wales, the researchers will analyse human remains from continental and oceanic Asia and Australia using more powerful newly developed ancient DNA sequencing methods.

Chief Investigator Professor David Lambert from the School of Environment says understanding where the earliest people of Asia and continental Australia came from is critical to understanding modern human evolution.

"The recent sequencing of the Australian Aboriginal genome has identified two waves of human migration through Asia,'' he said.

"Aboriginal Australians descended from an early human dispersal into eastern Asia, possibly 62,000 to 75,000 years ago.

"This dispersal is separate from the one that gave rise to modern Asians 25,000 to 38,000 years ago, although there is evidence for hybridisation between them."

The researchers aim to identify descendent individuals from both lineages and detect historic patterns of interbreeding among these early people.

Professor Paul Tacon from Griffith University's Place, Evolution & Rock Art Heritage Unit said the research was a world-first study to attempt to recover human DNA sequences from more than 80 ancient human remains collected from a range of time points.

See the article here:
DNA analysis of ancient remains to uncover origin mysteries

Jurors at the attempted-murder trial of Robert Zlahn got a heavy dose of DNA on Wednesday as scientific experts offered different conclusions about whether another man touched the pistol used in the crime.

The third day of Zlahns trial for the shooting on Main Street on July 1, 2011, was dominated by lengthy testimony from two DNA experts. A state crime lab expert who tested for gunshot residue and the first police officer to interview Zlahn also testified Wednesday.

Zlahn, 26, is accused of shooting a .45-caliber pistol three times at Ryan Grosulak at the intersection of Main Street and Pemberton Lane. The shooting happened after Grosulak, a former star football player and a bodybuilder, tried to confront the men who had allegedly harassed his girlfriend outside the couples apartment.

Zlahn is charged with attempted deliberate homicide, criminal endangerment and tampering. His trial before Judge Mary Jane Knisely began Monday with jury selection and opening statements. Court officials said Wednesday that the trial will continue into next week.

Testimony on Tuesday included the accounts of Grosulak and his girlfriend, Alanna Vincent. She said she was terrified by two black men in a maroon minivan who confronted her outside her apartment and made sexually offensive remarks.

Grosulak told jurors he went looking for the men and found them in the minivan at the busy Heights intersection at about 3 p.m. After exchanging words, the driver of the van whom Grosulak described as a black man with short hair shot at him three times, Grosulak said.

Sean Bowers also testified Tuesday, telling jurors he had stepped out of the van during the verbal exchange with Grosulak and saw his friend, Zlahn, fire the pistol during the confrontation.

Former police officer Joseph Dickerson was the first witness to testify Wednesday, describing how he was called to the shooting scene and interviewed Zlahn after another officer stopped Zlahn, Bowers and a third man, Samuel Bettie, as they were walking on Bench Boulevard shortly after the shooting.

Zlahn denied being involved in a shooting, Dickerson said, and encouraged officers to go try to find the people responsible.

Bahne Klietz, a forensic chemist at the Montana State Crime Lab, also testified Wednesday. She said swabs taken from Zlahn, Bowers and Bettie showed all three men had some amount of gunshot residue on their hands or faces.

See more here:
DNA experts testify at Main Street shooting trial

The U.S. Supreme Court has put on hold at least for a week a ruling by Marylands highest court that prohibits DNA collection from suspects charged but not yet convicted in violent crimes.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler had asked the nations highest court to intervene in the case of Alonzo Jay King Jr. v. State of Maryland after his bid failed to have the Maryland Court of Appeals reverse its own decision. The order grants a stay until at least July 25.

In a statement, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said he was encouraged by the order which may indeed result in identifying perpetrators in some of Marylands most horrific unsolved cases where DNA was left at the scene of the crime. David Paulson, a Gansler spokesman, said police agencies certainly may resume DNA collection, though lawyers in the attorney generals office were still weighing how they would advise those agencies on how to proceed.

Stephen Mercer, the chief attorney for the Office of the Maryland Public Defenders Forensics Division, said the public defenders office, which opposes the pre-conviction DNA testing, was preparing to respond immediately.

The case centers on Maryland legislation, which, starting in 2009, allowed police to collect DNA from suspects after they were charged with violent crimes or burglaries. Before then, police had been able to collect DNA only from convicted criminals.

Alonzo Jay King Jr. challenged the law after he was arrested in Wicomico County in April 2009 on first- and second-degree assault charges. Prosecutors used a DNA swab stemming from that case to connect him to a 2003 rape. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape.

But in a 5 to 2 ruling, the Maryland Court of Appeals sent Kings case back to the Wicomico County Circuit Court and threw out the DNA evidence against him, saying investigators violated his Fourth Amendment rights in taking his genetic material and comparing it with old crime scene samples. The ruling was condemned by prosecutors and police chiefs, who said it would hamper detectives ability to solve cold cases and jeopardize the convictions of 34 robbers, burglars and rapists whose genetic samples were taken after they were charged in separate cases.

Police across the state had stopped collecting DNA from charged suspects in the wake of the Court of Appeals ruling. It remains unclear how they will proceed as the case continues to make its way through the nations court system.

Read the original post:
Supreme Court stays DNA ruling

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- A DNA link may signal a break in a 36-year-old investigation into the slaying of four children, the Oakland County, Michigan, prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

The so-called Oakland County Child Killer is believed to be responsible for the deaths of Mark Stebbins, 12, Jill Robinson, 12, Kristine Mihelich, 10, and Timothy King, 11, who were kidnapped and found dead between 1976 and 1977.

Using technology unavailable to investigators at the time of the crimes, the FBI DNA unit at Quantico tested and analyzed human hairs found on the bodies of Stebbins and King, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators were able to establish a mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, profile link between the hairs, establishing they came from the same person, essentially proving the two crimes were connected.

"This is the first piece of evidence that actually links any of the victims together. It was always believed that these two killings were linked to the same person, however that was an assumption based on the similarities in the crime," said Jessica R. Cooper, Oakland County Prosecutor.

Armed with proof the boys' death was connected, authorities pulled up more evidence from the 1970s investigation. At the time, police had found a person of interest and were able to search his car. The car was a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville. The investigators took samples from the interior of the car and found small hairs, fibers and fur. They were placed in evidence where they remained for decades, until this material, too, was submitted to the FBI DNA unit for testing and analysis.

According to prosecutors, the testing revealed that the hairs recovered from the Bonneville had the same mtDNA profile as the hairs recovered from the boys' bodies.

The owner of the car, 70-year-old Archibald "Ed" Sloan, is serving a life sentence for two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. Sloan was tested for a DNA match, but it was determined he did not share the same DNA profile: The hairs found on the boys and in the car were not his.

"It is believed that Sloan would allow others to use his 1966 Bonneville, as well as the other described vehicles, so investigators are looking for information concerning any other people who may have used this car, or had access to any of these vehicles. Finding anyone like this who turns out to be the donor of the hair may be the key to solving these two murders," Cooper said.

Excerpt from:
New DNA work may offer break in 36-year-old Michigan slayings

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- A DNA link may signal a break in a 36-year-old investigation into the slaying of four children, the Oakland County, Michigan, prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

The so-called Oakland County Child Killer is believed to be responsible for the deaths of Mark Stebbins, 12, Jill Robinson, 12, Kristine Mihelich, 10, and Timothy King, 11, who were kidnapped and found dead between 1976 and 1977.

Using technology unavailable to investigators at the time of the crimes, the FBI DNA unit at Quantico tested and analyzed human hairs found on the bodies of Stebbins and King, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators were able to establish a mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, profile link between the hairs, establishing they came from the same person, essentially proving the two crimes were connected.

"This is the first piece of evidence that actually links any of the victims together. It was always believed that these two killings were linked to the same person, however that was an assumption based on the similarities in the crime," said Jessica R. Cooper, Oakland County Prosecutor.

Armed with proof the boys' death was connected, authorities pulled up more evidence from the 1970s investigation. At the time, police had found a person of interest and were able to search his car. The car was a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville. The investigators took samples from the interior of the car and found small hairs, fibers and fur. They were placed in evidence where they remained for decades, until this material, too, was submitted to the FBI DNA unit for testing and analysis.

According to prosecutors, the testing revealed that the hairs recovered from the Bonneville had the same mtDNA profile as the hairs recovered from the boys' bodies.

The owner of the car, 70-year-old Archibald "Ed" Sloan, is serving a life sentence for two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. Sloan was tested for a DNA match, but it was determined he did not share the same DNA profile: The hairs found on the boys and in the car were not his.

"It is believed that Sloan would allow others to use his 1966 Bonneville, as well as the other described vehicles, so investigators are looking for information concerning any other people who may have used this car, or had access to any of these vehicles. Finding anyone like this who turns out to be the donor of the hair may be the key to solving these two murders," Cooper said.

Read the original:
DNA may offer break in '70s kid slayings

So Ferguson enlisted the help of a national group that works to exonerate the wrongfully convicted and successfully petitioned a Genesee Circuit judge to order DNA tests -- a now-common practice that was not in use by Flint police at the time Ferguson was convicted.

The result? Ferguson was told there was only a 1 in 2.2 quadrillion chance that the DNA found at the crime scene wasn't his.

DNA evidence cuts both ways, said Donna McKneelen, co-director of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Innocence Project, which helped Ferguson with his DNA request.

"We caution them before we move forward: Do you really want to take this chance?" said McKneelen, who said she was not prepared to discuss specifics of Ferguson's case. "That's something I don't understand (cases in which DNA testing confirms a prosecutor's case) because it causes more problems" for the accused. Ferguson, now 47, was sentenced to 60 to 90 years in prison in 1986 after a jury convicted him of robbing and raping the 32-year-old postal worker from Clio on her first day on a new route on Flint's north side.

The late Donald Freeman, a county Circuit Court judge, called Ferguson a "predator" during sentencing, even though the Benton Harbor native protested he was innocent.

Only 21 at the time he was sentenced, Ferguson's criminal record already included two prior adult convictions beginning at age 9, according to Flint Journal files.

Ferguson, aided by The Innocence Project at Cooley, petitioned for a Genesee Circuit Court order to carry out DNA testing on decades-old vaginal swabs, panties and uniform pants that were collected from the victim after the attack.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said some inmates convince themselves they are not guilty in a case, even though all evidence suggests otherwise.

"A lot of folks in prison say (they) didn't do it," Leyton said. "In this case, he did do it. I don't believe there are many innocent people locked up."

Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld, the Innocence Project, was established to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing.

More here:
DNA test request backfires against convicted Flint rapist

Authorities say recent DNA testing does not clear a person convicted of old violent felonies in Norfolk, because it was performed on evidence in two other crimes for which no one was ever convicted.

Gail Jaspen, chief deputy director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, said Friday that the confusion resulted because the person in question was convicted of similar crimes against different victims during the same period.

"The Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office was able to pair police records with indictment information to clarify this issue," Jaspen said. She said the department will not release the DNA test results that would disclose the identity of the person.

A spokeswoman for the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, citing the decision by the Department of Forensic Science, also declined to identify the man. In an Associated Press story last week, Norfolk authorities said he was serving life for sexual-assault convictions and was a suspect in the crimes for which the testing was performed.

Olga Akselrod, an attorney with the Innocence Project, said that because the crimes for which he was and was not convicted are said to be similar and happened during the same time frame, it raises many questions and his name should be released.

"If he is innocent and all of these crimes were committed by the same person, the DNA results excluding him from some of these crimes could be a critical lead in proving his innocence in all of the crimes," she said.

Akselrod said, "It is possible that the DNA testing may be of no relevance and that the person is not claiming innocence, but unless his identity is released we can't be sure." At minimum, she said the state should notify the defendant about the exclusion and tell him how to obtain counsel.

This month, the Department of Forensic Science disclosed test results in more than 70 old cases where the DNA profiles of convicted people were not found in crime scene evidence collected from 1973 to 1988.

Commonwealth's attorneys in Norfolk and Carroll County asked the department to withhold four such reports involving four people three in Norfolk and one in Carroll because they were deemed critical to ongoing investigations.

As part of its landmark post-conviction DNA project begun in 2005, the Department of Forensic Science was to conduct DNA testing of biological evidence found in old criminal case files that resulted in convictions in an effort to identify innocent people.

Read more:
DNA tests fail to clear man convicted of old felonies in Norfolk