28-Nov-2023

Massachusetts case dismissed when TrueAllele reveals “uninterpretable” DNA is exculpatory

An innocent Massachusetts man was driving near a shooting. Two firearms were found nearby. The State Police crime lab couldn’t get any information from their “uninterpretable” DNA data. They couldn’t run their genotyping software on very small DNA amounts. They said their three- and five-person mixtures were “not suitable for comparison due to the quality of the profile.”

When a defendant’s DNA isn’t present in the evidence, some prosecutors will baselessly argue that "uninterpretable" data implies guilt. The lab’s interpretation failure can translate into criminal injustice. It is essential to Know the Answer™ when DNA evidence is exculpatory.

The Public Defender sent the lab’s DNA data to Cybergenetics. TrueAllele statistically excluded the defendant from both firearms. The match statistics were one over 135 million (three contributors) and one over 1.09 million (five contributors) – the defendant’s DNA wasn’t there. The case was dismissed. The defense attorney thanked Cybergenetics, saying “you helped to make this happen through the work that you did.”