Monthly Archives: November 2012

Paul Fraughton | Salt Lake Tribune Kari Killian, a forensic technician at Sorenson Forensics, works in a lab extracting DNA from a sample. Tuesday, October 23, 2012

With a few quick clicks, Mark Szczepanski uploads the file from his desktop to a simple, red-and-white web page. A few seconds later, a bar graphic turns green.

If Szczepanski was a police officer, he might have just found a rape suspect.

He was using a test version of a new cloud-based DNA database offered by Utahs Sorenson Forensics, a DNA testing company. Simple to use and easy to update, the LEAD (Local Entry Accessible DNA) Database was created for local police departments and almost instantly compares DNA test results say, a suspects cheek swab with a semen sample collected at a rape scene.

It has the potential to change the way police use DNA testing, allowing them to access the information more easily and use the technology to investigate more crimes, said Lars Mouritsen, Sorenson Forensics chief scientific officer.

"Its pretty simplebut incredibly powerful," he said. The product offers a possible solution to state agencies struggle to keep up with the explosive growth of DNA testing in police work, but concerns privacy advocates who question the security of cloud-based computing and the wisdom of entrusting such sensitive information to a private company.

"How are you ensuring that data would be kept safe?" said Marina Lowe, the legislative counsel for the Salt Lake City chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Explosion of DNA data Since the firstDNA-based conviction in 1987, the technology has become an essential tool for police all over the country. Scientists can now extract DNA from miniscule collections of cells even a touch can leave enough evidence.

"DNA, for us, is extremely valuable," said Salt Lake City Police Detective Mike Hamideh, a 17-year veteran who spent eight years in homicide and narcotics. And juries schooled on the long-running hit TV show "CSI" are often looking for such scientific, non-subjective data.

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SLC company creates cloud-based DNA database for local police

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Sherman Hemsley in a 1998 file photo.

A DNA test proving that a Philadelphia man is the brother of Sherman Hemsley can't be used in next week's trial because the results were submitted too late to the court, the man's lawyer said.

Richard Thornton, the Phila del phia man who says he is Hemsley's brother, is challenging a will left behind by Hemsley that lists Hemsley's friend Flora Isela Enchinton Bernal as his beneficiary.

A hearing to settle the issue is to take place Friday before Probate Court No. 1. Judge Patricia B. Chew.

Hemsley, who starred in the TV sitcom "The Jeffersons," died in El Paso on July 24 of lung cancer. His body is being kept at the San Jose Funeral Home on the East Side.

During a Sept. 24 hearing, Chew granted Thornton and

Davis asked for an extension on Oct. 19, but it was denied, court records show.

On Thursday, Davis said in a news release that a "delay at the funeral home caused the late filing."

Davis is also alleging that the delay might have been caused by problems with the San Jose Funeral Home because the funeral home's owner, Sergio Vargas, used to date Enchinton's daughter.

More here:
DNA test too late for use in trial for Sherman Hemsley estate

Helen Wallace: We need safeguards to protect human rights and prevent miscarriage of justice.

Helen Wallace says the U.K. is undergoing a rethink on its DNA policies

The Union government is working on a new version of a legislation that seeks to set up a national DNA data base of offenders, that allows for the collection and storage of DNA samples of those accused in cases ranging from homicide, sexual assault and rape to even violations under the motor vehicle Act.

A draft version of the legislation first mooted in 2007 envisages the maintenance of several state-level databases of suspects across a list of violations ranging from Motor Vehicle Act offences to crimes such as rape and murder.

Activists have opposed the legislation as a potential breach of citizens privacy, and have challenged it on ethical and technical grounds.

Helen Wallace, a member of Gene Watch, a U.K.-based group advocating against DNA databases, feels that India must learn from international experiences, particularly from the U.K. which was the first country to set up a database in 1995 that even allowed retention of DNA records of innocent citizens.

In May, the U.K. passed the Protection of Freedoms Act which will remove about 1 million records from the database.

In an interview with The Hindu, on the sidelines of a recent lecture at the Centre for Internet and Society, Ms. Wallace spoke about the need for proper safeguards, the proposed legislation and the cost-effectiveness of doing so in a country as India.

Excerpts:

Q: Theres been a major rethink on DNA profiling and databases in the UK. What are the lessons for India here?

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DNA databases: ‘India must learn from international experiences’

It was a hot summer afternoon when Denise Porch, resident manager of a southwest Charlotte apartment complex, left a note on her front door.

Shed gone to show an apartment to a prospective resident and would be back by 3 p.m.

That was 37 years ago. Porch hasnt been seen since.

But Diane Hill still holds out hope that she will eventually learn what happened to her sister that day in July 1975.

And she became a bit more hopeful this week after learning that police have solved the case of Priscilla Blevins, another Charlotte woman who disappeared just three weeks before Porch did. Using a national database, authorities were able to match DNA from an unidentified body to that of Blevins sister.

I have accepted that shes not coming back, Hill, now 63 and living in Davidson County, says of her sister. But youd like to have something, some type of closure. I hope some day, just like (the Blevins case), that will happen.

Increasingly, the prospects are improving for families like hers as authorities fine-tune their use of DNA to help resolve missing persons cases that once seemed unsolvable.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department typically fields about 3,000 missing persons reports each year. About 70 percent involve juveniles 13-17 years old.

The overwhelming majority of the cases are solved quickly.

Among them: The confused senior citizen from west Charlotte who planned to drive to church some years ago, lost his way and was found a day and a half later in a car that had run out of gas in New York City.

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DNA database gives hope to families of the missing