Archive for August, 2011


Prosecutors Use DNA to Implicate Polygamist Leader: UPDATE, Jeffs May be in a Coma

Filed Under: DNA Testing by dnatesting101 — 3 Comments
August 29, 2011

Warren Jeffs1 208x157 custom Prosecutors Use DNA to Implicate Polygamist Leader: UPDATE, Jeffs May be in a ComaWarren Jeffs, leader of a radical polygamist group, has been charged with sexually assaulting children. DNA is set to play a major role in the trial.

Yesterday, the trial of 55-year-old Warren Jeffs, the leader of radical Mormon breakaway group the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, began in Texas. Jeffs is being charged with child sexual assault and aggravated child sexual assault; the two girls he has been charged with assaulting are two of his “spiritual wives,” ages 12 and 14.

Prosecutors told the jury at the beginning of the trial that they will use DNA to convict Jeffs. “You will hear and see evidence that as a result of sexual activity a child was conceived, and from DNA evidence you will be able to determine that Warren Steed Jeffs is the father of this child,” said Assistant Texas Attorney General Eric Nichols in reference to the 14-year-old girl. The prosecution team also claims to have an audio-recording of Jeffs sexually assaulting the 12-year old.

Jeffs has been trying to delay the trial for some time. He fired his lawyers yesterday, for the seventh time since December, in order to attempt to slow down proceedings. Though Judge Barbara Walther allowed him to do so, she also insisted that the trial remain on schedule, and it is now on its second day. After firing his counsel, Jeffs tried the silent treatment, refusing to make a plea or an opening statement. Today, however, he broke that silence with a verbose sermon defending polygamy that lasted for almost an hour. He ended with an “amen.” Then, during Nichols’ prosecution speech, Jeffs continually interrupted the Assistant Attorney General. After reprimanding Jeffs, Judge Walther declared a recess. The trial will soon continue.

Despite his incarceration, Jeffs appears to remain an exalted leader of the 10,000 members of the FLDS. The group promotes polygamy as well as “spiritual marriages” to teenage girls, who are required to serve their husbands “mind, body, and soul.” Jeffs has been reported as having as many as 70 wives.

Barring a major twist, this trial will end up as just the most recent of many instances of DNA being used to put a truly deplorable individual behind bars.

warren jeffs flds statue 180x240 custom Prosecutors Use DNA to Implicate Polygamist Leader: UPDATE, Jeffs May be in a Coma

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UPDATE: August 29, 2011 – 2:45PM

Warren Jeffs has now been convicted to life imprisonment for his crimes. The ex-polygamist leader has been fasting for more than three days and officials say Jeffs has managed to induce a coma.

He is now being treated at the East Texas Medical Facility, in Tyler, Texas. A representative for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice stated that Jeffs is in “critical but stable condition.”

It has not been confirmed if he is still in a coma or has been released back to prison.

 

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UPDATE: Case Closed – DNA set Casey free, will it do the same for the West Memphis Three?

Filed Under: DNA Testing, In The News by dnatesting101 — Leave a comment
August 19, 2011

Three men, one on death row, may be set free today after a deal is made between state prosecutors and defense attorneys. For seventeen years the men have been incarcerated for the murders of three 8-year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas on May 5, 1993.

WestMemphisThree UPDATE: Case Closed DNA set Casey free, will it do the same for the West Memphis Three?The DNA Evidence

New DNA evidence surfaced in 2007 showing that none of the DNA evidence found at the scene of the crime could be attributed to any of the defendants.

This evidence was eventually reversed by the Arkansas Supreme Court but newly tested evidence from July 2011 of materials from the crime scene were found to not match any of the defendants yet again.

All three men received severe punishments for the committed crimes. According to officials the slayings of the young boys were part of a Satanic ritual.

  • Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life in prison.
  • Damien Echols was sentenced to death.
  • Jessie Misskelley Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment and two 20-year sentences.

The DNA evidence will not completely exonerate the men but it does make the case circumstantial because there is a lack evidence implicating any of them.

The HBO documentary series Paradise Lost sparked much of the criticism about how law enforcement handled the crime scene and the case. According to the films, there was also very little blood evidence found by the bodies, indicating that the boys were probably not even murdered at the same location that their bodies were found.

Mystery Hearing

The defense argued that much of the substantial evidence gathered by the police was actually gained by coercion. Misskelley confessed to the crime but later recanted. It was this confession that sealed the conviction for the ‘West Memphis Three.’

“I don’t know what kind of deal they made,” said Steve Branch, the father of victim Steven Branch.  “Now you can get some movie stars and a little bit of money behind you and you can walk free for killing somebody,” he added.

West Memphis Three Hearing UPDATE: Case Closed DNA set Casey free, will it do the same for the West Memphis Three?

The crowd gathers ourside the hearing.

Many legal experts, celebrities and defense attorneys support the innocence of the three defendants.

WestMemphisThree Today UPDATE: Case Closed DNA set Casey free, will it do the same for the West Memphis Three?

Seventeen years later the men hope for justice.

From the New York Times:

“Should Mr. Echols be freed, it would be the highest profile release of a death row inmate in recent memory.”

These men were boys when they were arrested and have spent years in prison. Will DNA evidence be enough to set them free?

What do you think?

CNN is streaming the video live from the hearing.

There is also a Free the WM3 Support Fund created by a group of individuals fighting for what they believe is the “truth.”

UPDATE (8/19/11 1:30PM EST) : An Arkansas judge has set the three men, Echols, Baldwin and Miskelley,  free. To regain their freedom and get out of prison the three men agreed to pleading guilty, preventing the possibility o a civil lawsuit against the state of Arkansas.

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Is there life in space? – NASA Finds DNA in Extraterrestrial Meteorites

Filed Under: DNA Testing, In The News by dnatesting101 — Leave a comment
August 17, 2011

Is there life in space? NASA Finds DNA in Extraterrestrial Meteorites

A recent study published by NASA in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science indicates for the first time ever that life may have originated from outer space.

The four building blocks or nucleobases of DNA are adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine. And NASA researchers announced on Monday that researchers have found evidence of guanine and adenine in meteorites from space.

“People have been discovering components of DNA in meteorites since the 1960′s, but researchers were unsure whether they were really created in space or if instead they came from contamination by terrestrial life,” stated Dr. Michael Callahan, lead author of the study.

“For the first time, we have three lines of evidence that together give us confidence these DNA building blocks actually were created in space,” he added.

These new research findings imply that meteorites may have been the spark that started life on Earth.

So maybe there are aliens living in space after all. How exciting!

To learn more watch the video below:


Is there life in space? NASA Finds DNA in Extraterrestrial Meteorites

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Blood Test Determines Baby Gender Early as 7 Weeks

Filed Under: DNA Testing by dnatesting101 — 1 Comment
August 10, 2011

blood test prenatal 98x79 custom Blood Test Determines Baby Gender Early as 7 Weeks Recently reviewed study shows that what parents-to-be normally wait 20 weeks for, can now be achieved in seven. This form of prenatal determination uses cell-free fetal DNA from the mother’s blood to determine the gender of the fetus.

These newly reviewed tests have been available for sale in many countries but have only recently been examined by experts. US experts found that the study is 98% percent accurate when blood was tested after the seventh week of gestation.

baby gender 167x246 custom Blood Test Determines Baby Gender Early as 7 Weeks The amount of risk accompanied by invasive cytogenetic tests is extremely diminished by this noninvasive method. Tests like amniocentesis can help determine genetic abnormalities as early as the 15th week of pregnancy. But pregnant women must risk miscarriages and other complications to themselves and their baby.

An ultrasound is another common method of determination that similar to testing maternal blood, is also noninvasive. The position of the baby can cause issues though and parents usually wait 18-20 weeks before conducting this test.

Researchers reviewed 6,541 pregnancies in 57 different studies and found a sensitivity of 95-percent and a specificity of 98.6-percent. These results are tremendously accurate and can prove to be very helpful for high risk pregnancies.

Some are concerned though that the availability of such an early test will cause parents to choose pregnancies based on gender. For example, if a family already has all girl siblings, the parents may not continue with the pregnancy if the gender was found to be female again. This can also be an issue in certain cultures where males are favored.

What do you think about these new early-detection gender tests for your family and your unborn baby?

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20 Years Later Serial Killer Ted Bundy’s DNA Added to FBI Database, May Close Unsolved Murders

Filed Under: In The News by dnatesting101 — Leave a comment
August 3, 2011

A lost vial of Ted Bundy’s blood was recently found at the Tallahassee Crime Lab, the blood was collected in 1978 when Bundy was taken into custody for the murder of a 12-year old local girl. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will be adding the DNA for the serial killer into the national FBI database and will possibly be closing many cold case murders.

bundywanted 20 Years Later Serial Killer Ted Bundy’s DNA Added to FBI Database, May Close Unsolved MurdersTed Bundy is one of the most infamous serial killers in America’s history. Bundy went on an abduction, rape, torture, and murder rampage across five states in the 1970s. The serial killer is also an admitted necrophiliac and known sociopath.

Bundy was sentenced to the death penalty and got the electric chair in 1989 before the advent of DNA evidence in forensic science. After his hair and a bite marks on a victim’s buttock were matched to evidence found at crime scenes, Bundy was finally caught and convicted.

Though he was only convicted on three murders, he later confessed to murdering over 20 more girls before his execution. Many girls were left unidentified but Bundy did admit to many crimes where the police had him as the lead suspect.

During his incarceration and his wait on death row, he spoke closely with FBI Special Agent, William Hagmaier. He explained to Agent Hagmaier that his early murders were more impulsive and that he truly became a predator around the time of Lynda Healy’s murder in 1974.Though he never admitted to murders before 1974, that statement implies that he did kill before. This new DNA evidence can open the doors to many other undocumented murders by Bundy.

Published estimates of how many homicides Bundy actually committed go as high as 100 or more. In an interview with biographer Hugh Aynesworth that for every publicized murder, of which there were 30, there “could be one that was not.” This implies yet again that there are many other murders that he did not admit to.

Since his DNA was put in the FBI database, there is already a cold case that is being reopened. The murder of Ann Marie Burr, an 8-year old girl in Tacoma, Washington where Bundy spent his adolescent years. If Bundy’s new DNA evidence connects him to this murder, this will make Burr his first documented victim.

57530dd5bd377b25b085d2a3cb7d8c8d 20 Years Later Serial Killer Ted Bundy’s DNA Added to FBI Database, May Close Unsolved Murders

d8aedbcff5ca203bfade65462a65051a 20 Years Later Serial Killer Ted Bundy’s DNA Added to FBI Database, May Close Unsolved Murders

6240ddb4a6b96dc367123eb4f0e020a7 20 Years Later Serial Killer Ted Bundy’s DNA Added to FBI Database, May Close Unsolved Murders

 Do you think that if DNA profiling had been prevalent during Bundy’s murder spree, things would have been different?

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