<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We have in the past coupla decades developed PRC, polymerase chain reaction, which allows 60 dollar DNA kits where consumers can find out a list of their relatives who have also done the kits with that company. It also allows anyone to collect an unknown prole’s DNA, find out the prole’s relatives who have done DNA kits. Since there is so much genealogy information available on the internet, it is easy enough to figure out to a short list of suspects the identity of the prole.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In a currently ongoing legal case, a mass murderer left behind a sheath with his DNA on it. The constables used PCR and figured out who it was whodunnit. But… since it is legally untested… they didn’t use that evidence to catch the perp. They figured out whodunnit, then knew exactly how to get the evidence they needed. They followed him, caught him, based the arrest warrant on other information but did not mention the DNA match.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The prosecution doesn’t need the DNA evidence to convict the guy, they have plenty of other evidence, which they found because they had identified him using DNA, which in itself in inadmissible evidence.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So now… the really hardcore civil libertarians among us are arguing that doing the PRC and using a commercial company on his DNA violates his 4<sup>th</sup> and 5<sup>th</sup> amendment rights. Reasoning: it represents testimony against himself, and unwitting testimony from “witnesses” who would be his second and third cousins whose genetic similarity to him was what got him caught.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So the argument becomes a little like the bad guy at the end of the Scooby Doo cartoons, where the bad guy now says “I woulda gotten away with it too, had it not been for that meddling DNA!”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Whaddya think, especially USians? Is that a legitimate argument? I am leaning toward saying DNA evidence is equivalent to video of the bad guy, which is generally admissible by prosecutors in the USA, and is generally allowed as a means of catching the perp, but is generally rejected as evidence in the UK.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>