In a recent criminal case in London, England, a man was convicted of murder based on his dog's DNA. The assailant, Chrisdian Johnson, was accused of having his pitbull-mix dog attack a 16 year old victim. Once the dog had the victim "down" Johnson stabbed the victim to death.
Police forensic experts were able to use DNA samples from the Johnson's dog to prove that the dog's blood was at the crime scene, and on the assailant's clothes.
The case used a new technique for analyzing canine DNA with greater accuracy. Scientist Rob Ogden, who helped develop the technique, said it "allows you to identify dogs to a fairly high level of certainty." Police said the chances the blood was not from Johnson's dog were a billion to one.
Johnson is facing a minimum of 24 years in prison for the murder, which is believed to be a result of a gang fued. The dog is facing lethal injection.
In this blogger' s opinion:
The idea of using animal DNA evidence does fascinate me, as I frequently walk around with pet fur stuck stubbornly to my black pants. If I rob a bank, will they subpoena my cat? In all seriousness, any contribution modern science can make towards solving crimes and finding the truth is worthwhile. Should be interesting to see how this area of evidence develops.
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