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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Joshua Huber
TrueAllele establishes reasonable doubt in homicide acquittal
| Crime | On the morning of April 15, 2016, Josh Huber shot and killed Derek Schindler (30) and Melissa Zuk (22) in his apartment after both victims attempted to attack him. |
| Evidence | Blood stains were found near the victims’ bodies. Police took DNA swabs from the stains and from underneath the victims’ fingernails. |
| DNA | The Allegheny County Crime Lab developed DNA mixture data from the evidence. |
| Match | The lab was unable to draw any conclusions from the data because of its complexity. |
| TrueAllele | Using the same data, the computer unmixed the DNA and found that the bloodstain matched Joshua Huber with a match statistic of 11.6 quintillion while Schindler’s fingernails matched Huber with a statistic of 53.8 thousand. |
| Cybergenetics | In May of 2017, Dr. Mark Perlin testified about the computer’s results. |
| Outcome | On May 9 of 2017, Huber was found not guilty of murder on the grounds of self-defense. |
Media
- Cop testifies that Etna double-murder defendant admitted to shooting Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Etna man acquitted in double slaying Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Man found not guilty of all charges in Etna double murder CBS Pittsburgh