Angelo Colon-Ortiz appeals ruling on DNA that allegedly ties him to killing of Vanessa Marcotte – MassLive.com

Angelo Colon-Ortizs defense counsel announced in Worcester Superior Court Thursday an appeal of a judges recent pretrial ruling to admit DNA evidence allegedly linking the Worcester man to the murder of Vanessa Marcotte, who was killed while jogging in Princeton in 2016.

Ortiz-Colons attorneys John Gregory Swomley and Eduardo Masferrer announced the appeal in a Thursday morning status review in the case.

The appeal comes after Worcester Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker ruled to deny a motion from Colon-Ortizs defense to suppress DNA evidence collected from the defendant, which argued that state troopers who went to his home to collect the sample did not get his knowing and voluntary consent for the sample due to translation issues and seized the DNA without a search warrant or probable cause.

Marcotte, a 27-year-old Google employee who lived in New York, was visiting her mothers home in Princeton in August 2016 when she went out for a jog. She never returned home, and her body was found on Aug. 7 in the woods off Brooks Station Road, not far from her mothers home.

The sample collected from Colon-Ortiz later matched DNA found underneath Marcottes fingernails during an autopsy, according to officials. He has been charged with murder.

The defense last year said it believed that the DNA waiver police provided to their client was improperly and inadequately translated into Spanish and did not properly state the rights being waived or that consent was being given to police to obtain a DNA sample.

The DNA sample was collected from Colon-Ortiz on March 16, 2017, according to court records.

Police collected the DNA sample during a visit to Colon-Ortizs apartment from state troopers Robert Parr, Michael Travers and Thiago Miranda as part of an investigation into the death of Marcotte. A witness account and DNA profile led police to identify Colon-Ortiz as a person of interest in the case.

Kenton-Walker denied the motion on Jan. 11, but called the consent form Massachusetts State Police used to collect a buccal DNA swab from Colon-Ortiz, the product of carelessness, court records show.

Considering the totality of the circumstances in this case, the consent form, together with the interview with the police, conveyed that information, Kenton-Walker wrote. The other information in the form, while important and valuable, did not defeat Colon-Ortizs free and voluntary decision to consent to providing a DNA sample.

The next status review for Colon-Ortiz will be held on April 7.

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Angelo Colon-Ortiz appeals ruling on DNA that allegedly ties him to killing of Vanessa Marcotte - MassLive.com