12-Jul-2015

Post-Gazette Sunday feature on how TrueAllele® helps solve incest rape

Pittsburgh, PA

Crime laboratories can find DNA mixtures of two or more people challenging to interpret. But many labs just give up when those mixed DNA people are related to each other. This means that critical DNA evidence from father-daughter rape crimes is often not used for criminal justice.

Science reporter David Templeton writes how prosecutors are now using Cybergenetics TrueAllele data analysis to separate incest rape DNA mixtures into the genotypes of father and daughter, yielding strong match statistics that help obtain convictions. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala called the technology "revolutionary," saying "It convicts the guilty and exonerates those not responsible for the crime."

A New York father who had raped his daughter for seven years pleaded guilty based on TrueAllele match results, and received consecutive sentences in the Bronx and Westchester. Cybergenetics scientist Dr. Mark Perlin testified about TrueAllele mixture statistics in a Pittsburgh trial where the Pennsylvania father was sentenced to serve 40 to 80 years.

• Pittsburgh tool helps shed light on incest crimes - Newspaper