Daily Archives: April 2, 2017

The forensic evidence recovered by Omaha police four bullet casings and a black T-shirt seemed almost an afterthought in a daylight shooting witnessed by multiple people.

Witnesses took the stand and put a killer away for life. And for 10 years, the items sat in an evidence locker, untested.

But thats about to change.

Douglas County District Judge Peter Bataillon recently ordered DNA examination on the casings and shirt in response to a motion filed late last year by Antoine D. Young. The 43-year-old Omaha man is eight years into a life term for the first-degree murder of Raymond Webb, shot repeatedly while behind the wheel of his car in an Omaha fast-food drive-thru.

Young has always insisted the witnesses got it wrong that he didnt kill anyone.

If forensic analysts can pull a genetic profile from the clothing and casings, it could help settle lingering questions about whether the right man is behind bars.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine agreed to allow the DNA tests without an appeal. But that doesnt mean the prosecutor now harbors doubts about Youngs guilt.

Were confident in our conviction, and we dont think theres any issue, Kleine said last week. So why not clear the air?

The judges decision also is significant because it marked the third time Young had sought DNA testing of the evidence.

Its definitely a huge step toward an exoneration for an innocent person, said Tracy Hightower-Henne, an Omaha lawyer with the Nebraska Innocence Project. Young also is being represented by two lawyers with the Midwest Innocence Project in Kansas City, Missouri.

The judges previous denials of Youngs motions for testing relied on a provision of state law that required defendants to show DNA testing was unavailable at the time of their original trials.

DNA testing was common by 2009, when a jury convicted Young, but his trial attorney didnt ask for it. Despite the fact that the evidence had never been tested, the courts essentially ruled that Young had blown his opportunity and was no longer entitled to the testing.

The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the rulings.

But in 2015 the Nebraska Legislature changed the DNA Testing Act, which had gone on the books in 2001.

The amended law makes it easier for Young and others by allowing courts to order the testing if biological evidence from the cases had not been analyzed before. Lawmakers did away with the need to show that the trials predated the advent of DNA technology.

The amended law also allows retesting of previously tested evidence if a defendant can show that new DNA technology could produce more accurate results.

The Innocence Project reports that of the 349 DNA exonerations in the United States since 1989, 71 percent involved eyewitness misidentification. Youngs trial turned on competing eyewitness testimony.

Jurors heard from six people who witnessed the shooting, which took place shortly before 3 p.m. on Aug. 25, 2007, as Webb sat in the drive-thru lane of a Taco Bell near 62nd Street and Ames Avenue. Four said the shooter wore a black shirt, one said the shirt was white and the sixth was unsure.

Two of the witnesses identified Young as the shooter, saying they were with Young outside a nearby barbershop when Webbs car pulled into the Taco Bell. The two witnesses said they saw Young run across the street and fire the gun through the drivers-side window of Webbs car.

Young now says he has evidence to prove one of those witnesses contacted Youngs brother before the murder trial and offered to withhold his testimony in exchange for $10,000. That witness is now dead.

At trial, three witnesses testified that Young was at a family picnic at a city park 4miles from the Taco Bell the entire afternoon of the shooting. Young has told the court he can produce additional witnesses who will vouch for his alibi.

In addition, Young asserts he can present yet a different witness who identified the shooter as another Omaha man who was released from prison last year after serving time for an unrelated gun crime.

Last summer, before the man was released from state custody, Youngs lawyers put him on the witness stand and asked if he killed Webb. The man invoked his constitutional right to not answer potentially incriminating questions.

The World-Herald is not naming the man because he has not been charged in connection with the case.

Records indicate that police were told there had been a long-running violent feud between the man and the victim. But they also show that authorities eliminated him as a suspect after he passed a polygraph examination.

In the recent DNA order, the judge said testing should be done on the evidence recovered from the crime scene as well as swabs taken from Young and the man whom Young accuses.

It remains to be seen if any identifiable DNA can be recovered from the evidence. Obtaining DNA from bullet casings has proven more difficult than from other sources.

The testing will be done at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and will be paid for by the Innocence Project.

See original here:
DNA testing ordered on evidence from 2007 slaying; convicted man says he's innocent - Omaha World-Herald

Prince Georges County police suspended an employee and are conducting a review of the departments DNA lab after learning that the employee accredited work at a Texas facility that later had to be shut down.

The ongoing county review uncovered neglected DNA profiles that should have been entered into a national database, lags in notifying investigators of DNA profile matches and the use of outdated methods to calculate the individuality of profiles. As of late last week, the lapses identified did not appear to have affected any prosecutions or convictions, county Police Chief Hank Stawinski said.

Stawinski ordered the review of county lab operations in November and said the department suspended an employee within a day of launching the probe. The county employee also serves as a national accreditor in lab audits. Stawinski said he has alerted six other law enforcement agencies audited by the employee to scrutinize their lab operations.

We realized we had an issue and we took action in the county, Stawinski said. At this point, we have no instance where these administrative failings have led to a place where we could have prevented violent crime from occurring, and we dont have anyone innocent locked up in jail.

Police would not name the suspended lab employee, citing Maryland state personnel law. Individuals familiar with the inquiry identified her as Lynnett Redhead, who has been in charge of the DNA lab since 2007. Her attorney confirmed she is on paid administrative leave.

My client maintains that she did everything that was appropriate, up to the standard of care and up to the industry standards, said James Ellison, Redheads attorney.

Ellison said he and Redhead have not been told by the police department what the departments specific concerns are and could not respond to them directly.

Police said the main administrative problems they found after bringing in state and FBI officials so far affect 19 of about 4,200 cases. The lab remains in operation after outside inspections.

[What CSI and NCIS dont show you about the lives of crime-scene investigators]

In the course of its inquiry, the department also found unprocessed evidence that might generate new DNA profiles and benefit homicide cases dating to 2005, Stawinski said.

The comprehensive review comes as a national commission on forensic science grapples with quality assurance and with court testimony in the wake of DNA exonerations and police lab closures.

The shutdown of the Austin Police Departments DNA lab last year prompted the investigation in Prince Georges after the county learned its employee gave the Austin lab passing marks while serving as auditor for the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board, Stawinski said.

A state accrediting body for Texas later discovered employees in Austin were using outdated statistical and scientific methods to analyze DNA, had contaminated evidence and lacked proper training, according to local news reports. Austin police closed the lab in June.

[Austin crime lab scandal could affect more than 2,000 cases]

Ellison said Redhead was not the only person involved in accrediting the lab in Austin.

Its a process that involves multiple people, Ellison said of his client. She was very minimal in that accreditation process.

Officials with the accreditation board were not available for comment Friday, according to a woman who answered the organizations phone.

During the first 150 days of the internal investigation in Prince Georges, the department has found three primary concerns.

[Has DNA met its match as a forensic tool?]

DNA profiles collected in at least four homicide cases werent entered into a national database designed to identify links to other investigations.

In other instances, DNA profiles were entered into the national database and generated potential suspects in 12 burglary, sexual assault and homicide cases. But there was a lag in telling police investigators that a match had been spotted a problem that federal auditors had told the lab to fix in a 2010 audit. Instead of notifying investigations within the 30-day time frame that the federal government advises, the most recent tardy notifications discovered went out between several months to eight years after matches were flagged.

Analysts also have been found to be using outdated calculations to determine how likely it was that DNA collected from a scene could have come from someone other than a suspect. The outdated calculations were present in three cases that have gone through court, Stawinski said, all sexual assault cases that resulted in two convictions and one plea. In all three cases, the older calculations still generated statistically sound results, and using the new formula would not have changed the identifications, Stawinski said.

John Erzen, a spokesman for the Prince Georges County States Attorneys Office, said the police department alerted prosecutors of the investigation into the lab. As of Friday, prosecutors have not had to notify any defense attorney of new evidence that would be favorable to a defendant.

We have not received the results or the conclusions of the investigation, Erzen said. We have not had to notify anyone of anyone of any issues.

Its unclear when the review of the labs work will be complete, but Stawinski said the administrative concerns have been fixed.

We discovered these shortcomings because we chose to look for them, Stawinski said.

The chief also said the departments science is sound and stressed that the problems uncovered have been administrative. Im troubled that this occurred, but I promise the public and the community that these problems have been fixed and we will make sure they dont repeat themselves in the future.

[D.C. crime lab restarts DNA testing on limited basis after shutdown cast doubts over analysis]

The countys lab has been previously rebuked for at least one of the same administrative weaknesses occurring now.

In 2010, the U.S. Justice Department Office of the Inspector General released results of a routine audit that found the Prince Georges lab, while generally in compliance with industry standards, had some problems.

The audit report said the lab was storing DNA evidence in an unlocked freezer, leaving material susceptible to tampering, a practice that also had been called out by a 2008 audit.

The 2010 audit also found that 19 of 100 DNA profiles inspectors reviewed should not have been entered into the national database for various reasons. The lab also failed to confirm three DNA matches within the standard 30-day period and in three cases did not notify investigators of matches in a timely manner.

We believe that the Laboratorys delay in its confirmation of the matches are in violation of NDIS procedures, and we are concerned that its delay in notifying investigators in a timely manner could potentially lead to the suspected perpetrator committing additional crimes, the 2010 inspector generals report stated.

The problems flagged in the federal audit were fixed, according to the report and a letter from the county responding to the audit.

Lawrence Kobilinsky, professor of forensic science and science department chairman at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said that managing a lab that is efficient and thorough is just as important as ensuring analysts produce scientifically sound and accurate results.

If you dont do things in a timely way, you slow things down and you give people a chance to evade police detection, Kobilinsky said. Burglars especially. Theyre the king of recidivists. One may be the reason for 20 and 30 cases. You take one off the street, and all the sudden the burglary rate goes down.

Original post:
Pr. George's police investigating DNA lab operations, suspended employee - Washington Post

By Lauran NeergaardAP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON Cancer patients often wonder "why me?" Does their tumor run in the family? Did they try hard enough to avoid risks like smoking, too much sun or a bad diet?

Lifestyle and heredity get the most blame but new research suggests random chance plays a bigger role than people realize: Healthy cells naturally make mistakes when they multiply, unavoidable typos in DNA that can leave new cells carrying cancer-prone genetic mutations.

How big? About two-thirds of the mutations that occur in various forms of cancer are due to those random copying errors, researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported last month in the journal Science.

Whoa: That doesn't mean most cases of cancer are due solely to "bad luck." It takes multiple mutations to turn cells into tumors and a lot of cancer is preventable, the Hopkins team stressed, if people take proven protective steps.

Last month's report is an estimate, based on a math model, that is sure to be hotly debated by scientists who say those unavoidable mistakes of nature play a much smaller role.

But whatever the ultimate number, the research offers a peek at how cancer may begin.

And it should help with the "why me" question from people who have "done everything we know can be done to prevent cancer but they still get it," said Hopkins' Dr. Bert Vogelstein, a pioneer in cancer genetics who co-authored the study. "They need to understand that these cancers would have occurred no matter what they did."

What causes the mutations?

You might inherit some mutations, like flaws in BRCA genes that are infamous for causing aggressive breast and ovarian cancers in certain families.

More commonly, damage is caused by what scientists call environmental factors the assault on DNA from the world around us and how we live our lives. There's a long list of risks: Cigarette smoke, UV light from the sun, other forms of radiation, certain hormones or viruses, an unhealthy diet, obesity and lack of exercise.

Then there are those random copy errors in cells what Vogelstein calls our baseline rate of genetic mutations that will occur no matter how healthy we live.

One way to think of it: If we all have some mutations lurking in our cells anyway, that's yet another reason to avoid known risks that could push us over the edge.

How cells make typos

New cells are formed when an existing cell divides and copies its DNA, one cell turning into two. Every time DNA is copied, about three random mutations occur, Vogelstein said.

We all harbor these kinds of mutations and most don't hurt us because they're in genes that have nothing to do with cancer or the body's defense mechanisms spot and fix the damage, said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, who wasn't involved in the new research.

But sometimes the errors hit the wrong spot and damage genes that can spur cancerous growth or genes that help the cell spot and fix problems. Then the damaged cells can survive to copy themselves, allowing important mutations to gradually build up over time. That's one reason the risk of cancer increases with age.

The study findings

Thursday's study follows 2015 research by Vogelstein and statistician Cristian Tomasetti that introduced the idea that a lot of cancer may be due to "bad luck," because those random DNA copying mistakes are more common in some kinds of cancer than others. Cancer prevention advocates worried the idea might sway people to give up on healthier lifestyles.

This time around, the duo analyzed mutations involved in 32 types of cancer to estimate that 66 percent of the gene flaws are due to random copy errors. Environmental and lifestyle factors account for another 29 percent, while inherited genes made up just 5 percent of the mutations.

Different organs, different risks

The same person can harbor a mix of mutations sparked by random DNA mistakes, heredity or environmental factors. And which is the most common factor differs by cancer, the Hopkins team said.

For example, team members estimate that random cell errors account for 77 percent of critical mutations in pancreatic cancer while still finding some caused by lifestyle risks like smoking. And the random DNA mistakes caused nearly all the mutations leading to childhood cancers, which is not surprising because youngsters have had little time to be exposed to environmental risks.

In contrast, most lung cancer mutations were the result of lifestyle factors, mainly from smoking. And while lung tissue doesn't multiply frequently, the small number of mutations caused by chance DNA errors might explain rare cases of never-smokers who still get sick.

"This paper is a good paper," said the cancer society's Brawley. "It gives prevention its due respect."

Other scientists see more to the story

Estimates from Britain suggest 42 percent of cancers are potentially preventable with a healthy lifestyle, and the Hopkins team says their mutation research backs that idea.

But Dr. Yusuf Hannun, Stony Brook University's cancer center director, contends that's just the number known to be preventable today researchers may discover additional environmental risks we can guard against in the future.

He said the Hopkins paper exaggerates the effect of the unavoidable DNA mistakes. His own 2015 research concluded they account for 10 percent to 30 percent of cancer cases.

Link:
Unavoidable typos in DNA help fuel cancer - Foster's Daily Democrat

A lady. A lovely, sensual, responsive Italian lady.

Thats how Car and Driver magazine described the Fiat 124 after its debut in the 1960s.

The sentiments no doubt sexist by todays standards, but heck, it was the 60s. And there was a point to the seductive words: Not all sports cars have to be hard-edged.

This one had all the mechanicals and quickness and a sporty suspension but also a more refined interior and quieter ride.

After a nearly 40-year absence (the classic endured till 1978, then buzzed around till 85 as the Fiat 2000), the Fiat 124 Spider has returned in the form of a 2017 model. But this time the Italian lady has a factory live-in friend, the Mazda Miata.

Mazda, you see, manufactures the 124 alongside the Miata at its Hiroshima, Japan, plant and provides many of its underpinnings.

But the 124 (base price: $27,495; as tested, $33,635) retains the shape and body creases of its legendary Pininfarina design, and its engine is actually prebuilt and shipped from a Fiat plant in Italy. So its Fiat DNA is alive and well.

It also is 5 inches longer, has more upscale materials inside and boasts a noticeably quieter ride than the Miata. Acoustic glass and headliner help keep noise to a conversation-friendly level.

In contrast to Mazdas naturally aspirated 2.0-liter engine, the Spider gets a turbocharged 1.4-liter engine that puts out 160 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque (4 more horses ride along with the Abarth version).

Shifting the standard manual tranny in this little bug-eyed roadster is a blast thanks to its tight six-speed shift box. A six-speed automatic is optional on all trims and, while it ticks smoothly, it can be a little sluggish to respond.

On the road, the rear-wheel-drive 124 is quick and nimble. Corners are taken confidently thanks to precision steering and Fiats own suspension components. Bumps and dips are gobbled up around town, too.

The highway ride is comfortable for a roadster, and an EPA-estimated 36 mpg makes it even more tempting to take out on a road trip (25 mpg around town).

Flipping down the soft top, which has a glass rear window, is easy-breezy. It takes less than a minute and can be done without leaving the drivers seat. Just unlatch at the top and toss it behind you.

Put the top up and taller folks will find the Spiders cabin a little cramped. Roadsters typically are like airplane cockpits for those over 6 feet tall: They must carefully squeeze in each of the body parts. Same deal here, with limited headroom, legroom and elbow room.

Likewise, weekend jaunts will require thoughtful packing with a mere 4.9 cubic feet of trunk space available.

But the interior has a nice look and feel, with soft-touch materials surrounding the instrument panel and leather-wrapped steering wheel. There are piano-black accents throughout. A 7-inch touchscreen (optional on the base model) is bright and clear, and its menus easy to navigate. A nine-speaker Bose sound system is available.

Three trim levels are offered. It starts with the base Classica, which gets 16-inch alloys, push-button start and a tiny 3-inch touchscreen. The Lusso adds 17-wheel wheels, fog lights, leather seats and a tech package with rear-view camera and bigger touchscreen.

For the racing-inspired, theres the top-line Abarth: quad exhaust tips, limited-slip rear differential, adjustable driving modes and Brembo high-performance brakes, plus some sporty interior accents like simulated suede seats.

Fiat even includes racing-school instruction in Arizona to every Abarth buyer willing to make the trip.

Original post:
Fiat DNA is thriving in Japanese-built 124 Spider - Press Herald