Back to Newsroom
4-Feb-2016
Pennsylvania court ruling denies source code discovery request
Pittsburgh, PA
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas Judge Jill Rangos issued a ruling today denying the defendant's discovery request for TrueAllele® source code in the Commonwealth v. Michael Robinson homicide case. The Court's Memorandum Order justified its December, 2015 denial of the discovery motion, determining that "the source code is not material to the defendant's ability to pursue a defense." The ruling also denied a request for an interlocutory appeal by permission.
"Judge Rangos concurs with other courts," says Cybergenetics Chief Executive and Scientist Dr. Mark Perlin. "Scientists test executable software programs on real data; they do not read source code text. TrueAllele's reliability has been established through thirty validation studies, seven of them published after independent peer-review." Dr. Perlin said, "Reporting accurate match statistics on DNA mixtures promotes justice. Using unvalidated software that gives wrong answers does not."
Links
- Memorandum Order denying TrueAllele source code - Ruling
- Wall Street Journal article on TrueAllele source code - Newspaper
- Access Denied: Source Code for DNA Software Remains Protected in Pa. Murder Trial - Magazine
- Judge Denies Access to Source Code for DNA Software Used in Criminal Cases - Newspaper