Editing DNA profiling (section)

===Cases===
* In 1986, Richard Buckland was [[exoneration|exonerated]], despite having admitted to the [[rape]] and [[murder]] of a teenager near [[Leicester]], the city where DNA profiling was first developed. This was the first use of DNA fingerprinting in a criminal investigation, and the first to prove a suspect's innocence.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8245312.stm|work=BBC News|title=DNA pioneer's 'eureka' moment|date=9 September 2009|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=22 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822224619/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8245312.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The following year [[Colin Pitchfork]] was identified as the perpetrator of the same murder, in addition to another, using the same techniques that had cleared Buckland.<ref>Joseph Wambaugh, ''The Blooding'' (New York, New York: A Perigord Press Book, 1989), 369.</ref>
* In 1987, genetic fingerprinting was used in a US criminal court for the first time in the trial of a man accused of [[statutory rape|unlawful intercourse]] with a mentally disabled 14-year-old female who gave birth to a baby.<ref>Joseph Wambaugh, The Blooding (New York, New York: A Perigord Press Book, 1989), 316.</ref>
* In 1987, [[Florida]] rapist Tommie Lee Andrews was the first person in the United States to be convicted as a result of DNA evidence, for raping a woman during a [[burglary]]; he was convicted on 6 November 1987, and sentenced to 22 years in prison.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.txtwriter.com/Backgrounders/Genetech/GEpage14.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021127041646/http://txtwriter.com/Backgrounders/Genetech/GEpage14.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 November 2002 |title=Gene Technology |page =14 |publisher=Txtwriter.com |date=6 November 1987 |access-date=3 April 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/case/revolution/databases.html |title=frontline: the case for innocence: the dna revolution: state and federal dna database laws examined |publisher=Pbs.org |access-date=3 April 2010 |archive-date=19 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319081203/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/case/revolution/databases.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* In 1990, a violent murder of a young student in [[Brno]] was the first criminal case in [[Czechoslovakia]] solved by DNA evidence, with the murderer sentenced to 23 years in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dvojka.rozhlas.cz/jak-usvedcit-vraha-omilostneneho-prezidentem-6942979|title=Jak usvědčit vraha omilostněného prezidentem?|publisher=[[Czech Radio]]|date=29 January 2020|language=cs|access-date=24 August 2020|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411163244/https://dvojka.rozhlas.cz/jak-usvedcit-vraha-omilostneneho-prezidentem-6942979|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kriminalistika.eu/muzeumzla/lubas/lubas_a.html|title=Milan Lubas – a sex aggressor and murderer|publisher=Kriminalistika.eu| vauthors = Jedlička M |translator-last=Vršovský|translator-first=Pavel | name-list-style = vanc |access-date=24 August 2020|archive-date=30 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230041021/http://kriminalistika.eu/muzeumzla/lubas/lubas_a.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 1992, DNA from a [[Parkinsonia florida|palo verde tree]] was used to convict Mark Alan Bogan of murder. DNA from seed pods of a tree at the crime scene was found to match that of seed pods found in Bogan's truck.  This is the first instance of plant DNA admitted in a criminal case.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.denverda.org/DNA_Documents/bogan.pdf |title=Court of Appeals of Arizona: Denial of Bogan's motion to reverse his conviction and sentence |date=11 April 2005 |access-date=21 April 2011 |publisher=Denver DA: www.denverda.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724114850/http://www.denverda.org/DNA_Documents/bogan.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml |title=DNA Forensics: Angiosperm Witness for the Prosecution |publisher=Human Genome Project |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-date=29 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429210652/http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bogan_botany_org">{{cite web|url=http://www.botany.org/PlantTalkingPoints/crime.php |title=Crime Scene Botanicals |publisher=Botanical Society of America |access-date=21 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222025353/http://www.botany.org/PlantTalkingPoints/crime.php |archive-date=22 December 2008 }}</ref>
* In 1994, the claim that [[Anna Anderson]] was [[Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia]] was tested after her death using samples of her tissue that had been stored at a [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]] hospital following a medical procedure. The tissue was tested using DNA fingerprinting, and showed that she bore no relation to the [[Romanovs]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gill P, Ivanov PL, Kimpton C, Piercy R, Benson N, Tully G, Evett I, Hagelberg E, Sullivan K | display-authors = 6 | title = Identification of the remains of the Romanov family by DNA analysis. | journal = Nature Genetics | date = February 1994 | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 130–135 | doi = 10.1038/ng0294-130 | pmid = 8162066 | s2cid = 33557869 }}</ref>
* In 1994, [[Earl Washington, Jr.]], of Virginia had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment a week before his scheduled execution date based on DNA evidence. He received a full pardon in 2000 based on more advanced testing.<ref name = DNA>{{cite web | vauthors = Murnaghan I | date = 28 December 2012 | url = http://www.exploredna.co.uk/famous-trials-dna-testing.html | title = Famous Trials and DNA Testing; Earl Washington Jr. | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141103143154/http://www.exploredna.co.uk/famous-trials-dna-testing.html | archive-date=3 November 2014 | work = Explore DNA | access-date = 13 November 2014 }}</ref>
* In 1999, Raymond Easton, a disabled man from [[Swindon]], England, was arrested and detained for seven hours in connection with a burglary. He was released due to an inaccurate DNA match. His DNA had been retained on file after an unrelated domestic incident some time previously.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,1933724,00.html|title=Suspect Nation|newspaper=The Guardian|date=8 October 2006|location=London| vauthors = Jeffries S |access-date=1 April 2010|archive-date=25 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025192317/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/oct/28/comment.ukcrime|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2000 Frank Lee Smith was proved innocent by DNA profiling of the murder of an eight-year-old girl after spending 14 years on death row in Florida, USA. However he had died of [[cancer]] just before his innocence was proven.<ref>{{cite web | date = June 2012 | url = http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3644 | title = Frank Lee Smith | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141129015535/http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3644 | archive-date=29 November 2014 | work = The University of Michigan Law School, National Registry of Exonerations | access-date = 13 November 2014 }}</ref> In view of this the Florida state governor ordered that in future any death row inmate claiming innocence should have DNA testing.<ref name = DNA/>
* In May 2000 Gordon Graham murdered Paul Gault at his home in [[Lisburn]], Northern Ireland. Graham was convicted of the murder when his DNA was found on a sports bag left in the house as part of an elaborate ploy to suggest the murder occurred after a burglary had gone wrong. Graham was having an affair with the victim's wife at the time of the murder. It was the first time Low Copy Number DNA was used in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/freedom-in-bag-for-killer-graham-13906320.html |title=Freedom in bag for killer Graham? | vauthors = Stephen G |publisher=Belfasttelegraph.co.uk |date=17 February 2008 |access-date=19 June 2010 |archive-date=17 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017031920/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/freedom-in-bag-for-killer-graham-13906320.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* In 2001, Wayne Butler was convicted for the [[murder of Celia Douty]]. It was the first murder in [[Australia]] to be solved using DNA profiling.<ref name="telegraphuk">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/1322624/18-years-on%2C-man-is-jailed-for-murder-of-Briton-in-%27paradise%27.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207054945/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/1322624/18-years-on%2C-man-is-jailed-for-murder-of-Briton-in-%27paradise%27.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 December 2008 |title=18 years on, man is jailed for murder of Briton in 'paradise' | vauthors = Dutter B |date=19 June 2001 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|access-date=17 June 2008|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2004/s1195029.htm |title=DNA evidence may not be infallible: experts | vauthors = McCutcheon P |date=8 September 2004 |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=17 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211012018/http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2004/s1195029.htm |archive-date=11 February 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In 2002, the body of [[James Hanratty]], hanged in 1962 for the "A6 murder", was exhumed and DNA samples from the body and members of his family were analysed.  The results convinced [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]] judges that Hanratty's guilt, which had been strenuously disputed by campaigners, was proved "beyond doubt".<ref>Joshua Rozenberg,[https://archive.today/20130505121050/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1393842/DNA-proves-Hanratty-guilt-%27beyond-doubt%27.html "DNA proves Hanratty guilt 'beyond doubt{{'"}}], ''Daily Telegraph'', London, 11 May 2002.</ref> Paul Foot and some other campaigners continued to believe in Hanratty's innocence and argued that the DNA evidence could have been contaminated, noting that the small DNA samples from items of clothing, kept in a police laboratory for over 40 years "in conditions that do not satisfy modern evidential standards", had had to be subjected to very new amplification techniques in order to yield any genetic profile.<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Steele | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1315138/Hanratty-lawyers-reject-DNA-guilt.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181011114606/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1315138/Hanratty-lawyers-reject-DNA-guilt.html | archive-date = 11 October 2018 | title = Hanratty lawyers reject DNA 'guilt' | work = Daily Telegraph | location = London, UK | date = 23 June 2001 }}</ref> However, no DNA other than Hanratty's was found on the evidence tested, contrary to what would have been expected had the evidence indeed been contaminated.<ref>{{cite news | journal=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1980731.stm | date=10 May 2002 | title=Hanratty: The damning DNA | access-date=22 August 2011 | archive-date=28 February 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228084558/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1980731.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>
* In August 2002, Annalisa Vicentini was shot dead in [[Tuscany]]. Bartender Peter Hamkin, 23, was arrested, in [[Merseyside]] in March 2003 on an extradition warrant heard at [[Bow Street Magistrates' Court]] in [[London]] to establish whether he should be taken to [[Italy]] to face a murder charge. DNA "proved" he shot her, but he was cleared on other evidence.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2766289.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |title=Mistaken identity claim over murder |date=15 February 2003 |access-date=1 April 2010 |archive-date=21 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821220626/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2766289.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2003, Welshman Jeffrey Gafoor was convicted of the 1988 [[murder of Lynette White]], when crime scene evidence collected 12 years earlier was re-examined using [[Short tandem repeat|STR]] techniques, resulting in a match with his nephew.<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Sekar S |url=http://lifeloom.com/I2Sekar.htm |title=Lynette White Case: How Forensics Caught the Cellophane Man |publisher=Lifeloom.com |access-date=3 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125075217/http://lifeloom.com/I2Sekar.htm |archive-date=25 November 2010 }}</ref>
* In June 2003, because of new DNA evidence, Dennis Halstead, John Kogut and John Restivo won a re-trial on their murder conviction, their convictions were struck down and they were released.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3273 | title = Dennis Halstead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150402131508/http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3273 | archive-date=2 April 2015 | work = The National Registry of Exonerations, University of Michigan Law School | date = 18 April 2014 | access-date = 12 January 2015 }}</ref>
* In 2004, DNA testing shed new light into the mysterious 1912 [[disappearance of Bobby Dunbar]], a four-year-old boy who vanished during a fishing trip. He was allegedly found alive eight months later in the custody of William Cantwell Walters, but another woman claimed that the boy was her son, Bruce Anderson, whom she had entrusted in Walters' custody. The courts disbelieved her claim and convicted Walters for the [[kidnapping]]. The boy was raised and known as Bobby Dunbar throughout the rest of his life. However, DNA tests on Dunbar's son and nephew revealed the two were not related, thus establishing that the boy found in 1912 was not Bobby Dunbar, whose real fate remains unknown.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-05-05-1914-dna_x.htm | title = DNA clears man of 1914 kidnapping conviction | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120914031557/http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-05-05-1914-dna_x.htm | archive-date=14 September 2012 | work = [[USA Today]] | date = 5 May 2004 | vauthors = Breed AG | agency = [[Associated Press]] }}</ref>
* In 2005, Gary Leiterman was convicted of the 1969 murder of Jane Mixer, a law student at the [[University of Michigan]], after DNA found on Mixer's [[pantyhose]] was matched to Leiterman. DNA in a drop of blood on Mixer's hand was matched to John Ruelas, who was only four years old in 1969 and was never successfully connected to the case in any other way. Leiterman's defense unsuccessfully argued that the unexplained match of the blood spot to Ruelas pointed to cross-contamination and raised doubts about the reliability of the lab's identification of Leiterman.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/22/48hours/main1066064.shtml | work = CBS News | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080917143412/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/22/48hours/main1066064.shtml | archive-date=17 September 2008 | title = Jane Mixer murder case | access-date = 24 March 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.garyisinnocent.org/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161222081440/http://www.garyisinnocent.org/ | archive-date=22 December 2016 | title = challenging Leiterman's conviction in the Mixer murder | work = www.garyisinnocent.org }}</ref>
* In November 2008, [[Anthony Curcio]] was arrested for masterminding one of the most elaborately planned armored car heists in history.  DNA evidence linked Curcio to the crime.<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Doughery P |title=D.B. Tuber |url= http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8829|publisher=History Link|access-date=30 November 2014|archive-date=5 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205044421/http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8829|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In March 2009, [[Sean Hodgson]]—convicted of 1979 killing of [[Murder of Teresa De Simone|Teresa De Simone]], 22, in her car in [[Southampton]]—was released after tests proved DNA from the scene was not his. It was later matched to DNA retrieved from the exhumed body of David Lace. Lace had previously confessed to the crime but was not believed by the [[detective]]s. He served time in prison for other crimes committed at the same time as the murder and then committed [[suicide]] in 1988.<ref>{{cite news| vauthors = Booth J |title=Police name David Lace as true killer of Teresa De Simone|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6838034.ece|website=The Times|access-date=20 November 2015|archive-date=25 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025192335/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In 2012, a case of babies being switched, many decades earlier, was discovered by accident. After undertaking DNA testing for other purposes, Alice Collins Plebuch was advised that her ancestry appeared to include a significant [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi Jewish]] component, despite a belief in her family that they were of predominantly [[Irish people|Irish descent]]. Profiling of Plebuch's genome suggested that it included distinct and unexpected components associated with Ashkenazi, [[Middle East]]ern, and [[Eastern Europe]]an populations. This led Plebuch to conduct an extensive investigation, after which she concluded that her father had been switched (possibly accidentally) with another baby soon after birth. Plebuch was also able to identify the biological ancestors of her father.<ref>{{cite news|title=Who Was She? A DNA Test Opened Up New Mysteries|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=9 April 2018|archive-date=6 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180606115708/https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=I thought I was Irish – until I did a DNA test|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/i-thought-i-was-irish-until-i-did-a-dna-test-1.3174491|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=9 April 2018|archive-date=9 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409235124/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/i-thought-i-was-irish-until-i-did-a-dna-test-1.3174491|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2016 Anthea Ring, abandoned as a baby, was able to use a DNA sample and DNA matching database to discover her deceased mother's identity and roots in [[County Mayo]], Ireland. A recently developed forensic test was subsequently used to capture DNA from saliva left on old stamps and envelopes by her suspected father, uncovered through painstaking genealogy research. The DNA in the first three samples was too degraded to use. However, on the fourth, more than enough DNA was found. The test, which has a degree of accuracy acceptable in UK courts, proved that a man named Patrick Coyne was her biological father.<ref>{{cite news|title=Who were my parents – and why was I left on a hillside to die?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43420678|website=BBC News|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-date=18 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180518132351/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43420678|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livingdna.com/blog/306/living-dna-provide-closure-lifetime-search-biological-father|title=Living DNA provide closure on lifetime search for biological father|date=19 March 2018|website=Living DNA|access-date=9 April 2018|archive-date=10 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410071928/https://www.livingdna.com/blog/306/living-dna-provide-closure-lifetime-search-biological-father|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2018 [[Murder of Marcia King|the Buckskin girl]] (a body found in 1981 in [[Ohio]]) was identified as Marcia King from [[Arkansas]] using DNA genealogical techniques<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/buckskin-girl-case-groundbreaking-dna-tech-leads-to-id-of-1981-murder-victim/|title="Buckskin Girl" case: DNA breakthrough leads to ID of 1981 murder victim|date=12 April 2018|work=CBS News|access-date=19 May 2018|language=en|archive-date=22 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622234027/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/buckskin-girl-case-groundbreaking-dna-tech-leads-to-id-of-1981-murder-victim/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2018 [[Joseph James DeAngelo]] was arrested as the main suspect for the [[Joseph James DeAngelo|Golden State Killer]] using DNA and genealogy techniques.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-dna-genealogy/559070/|title=How a Genealogy Website Led to the Alleged Golden State Killer| vauthors = Zhang S |date=17 April 2018|work=The Atlantic|access-date=19 May 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=28 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428000106/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-dna-genealogy/559070/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2018, William Earl Talbott II was arrested as a suspect for the 1987 [[murders of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg]] with the assistance of [[genealogical DNA test]]ing. The same [[genetic genealogy|genetic genealogist]] that helped in this case also helped police with 18 other arrests in 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-to-solve-cold-cases-all-it-takes-is-dna-a-genealogy-site-and-high-speed-internet-1.6657176|title=To Solve Cold Cases, All It Takes Is Crime Scene DNA, a Genealogy Site and High-speed Internet| vauthors = Michaeli Y |date=16 November 2018|work=Haaretz|access-date=6 December 2018|language=en|archive-date=6 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206021208/https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-to-solve-cold-cases-all-it-takes-is-dna-a-genealogy-site-and-high-speed-internet-1.6657176|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2018, with the use of Next Generation Identification System's enhanced biometric capabilities, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] matched the [[fingerprint]] of a suspect named Timothy David Nelson and arrested him 20 years after the alleged [[sexual assault]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fingerprint Technology Helps Solve Cold Case |url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/fingerprint-technology-helps-solve-cold-case-091319 |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us}}</ref>