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MedicoLegal
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Book Review Autumn 2003
Blood Evidence: How DNA is Revolutionizing the Way We Solve Crimes Anyone who has watched him on Larry King's show or Court TV or viewed his testimony in the O.J. Simpson trial knows just how smart Dr. Henry Lee is. He is usually referred to as the foremost criminalist and forensics expert in the country, if not the world. Despite his heavy Asian accent, he offers an aura of certitude rarely matched in expert testimony. In this new book he has two further advantages that he cannot use on TV or in court: the written English text and a collaborator, Mr. Tirnady, lawyer and writer. The results are impressive. Not that this book is an easy read. It is filled with forensic scientific terminology, concepts of modern molecular biology and acronyms of DNA science: RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism), VNTRs (variable number tandem repeats), mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA), STRs (short tandem repeats), PCR (polymerase chain reaction), DQA1 (genetic marker in the HLA tissue typing region), SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphs) and many others. While these are described and defined, a short glossary might have been a worthwhile addition. It's easy to forget the terms, even for someone with scientific training. But make no mistake, this book is far from a textbook of DNA forensics. Its strength lies in recounting the recent application of the methods of DNA chemistry and molecular genetics to identify individuals (criminals, victims, military personnel, owners of sports mementos and other valuable items, and ultimately, perhaps all of us) and to solve crimes, current and remote, committed by humans and even by animals. In addition, DNA applications in such disparate disciplines as archeology, anthropology, evolutionary biology, genealogy and history, medicine and microbiology, paleontology and paternity testing are discussed. Even a DNA technique for making sure that the source of caviar conforms with that stated on its label is related. Occasionally, the authors show a flash of humor, as in their description of Kary Mullis' lifestyle before and after his "Eureka moment" in developing the PCR methodology that revolutionized DNA science and won him the Nobel prize. Perhaps the most interesting chapters are the two devoted to the life, times and proof of remains of Dr. Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death" of Auschwitz and, in those pre-bin Laden days, "the world's most wanted (and hated) man." Even more compelling than the DNA technology employed by an assembly of world's experts to prove that the skull extracted from Wolfgang Gerhard's grave in Embu, Brazil was indeed Mengele, is the synopsis of his history: his origins, his medical education, how he came to join the SS and wind up at Auschwitz, his obsession with twin studies and the Nazi racial theories and his incredible cruelty in selecting victims for extermination and directing and performing human experiments; and his remarkable success at escaping Germany after the war and avoiding capture during his many years in South America, residing in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. The cast of characters in the book is large, containing many heroes and villains and innocents touched by DNA technology and forensics. Some, of course, are well known scientists, like Mullis, and Alec Jeffreys of Leicester University who developed the original RFLP technique used to convict Colin Pitchfork in the 1986 rape-strangulation murders of two English teenagers (the subject of Joseph Wambaugh's book, The Blooding). Also Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, attorneys and DNA experts and the co-founders of the now famous Innocence Project and critical members of O.J.'s defense team. And of course, O.J. himself. Or former Governor George Ryan of Illinois who concluded that death penalty cases were subject to contamination and conspiracy and dysfunction in his state and after many condemned were freed by DNA evidence, commuted the sentences of remaining death row inmates to life imprisonment (or less) before he left office. Lots of the cases and criminals described in the book, whether rightly or wrongfully convicted, offer fascinating anecdotes in the annals of crime and punishment. There is, for example, Kerry Kotler, released by DNA evidence after serving 11 years on a rape conviction, awarded $1.5 million by a New York judge in a civil trial for wrongful imprisonment and then convicted for a second rape on the basis of (you guessed it!) DNA evidence. Or the so-called "Dupage Seven" case in which several prosecutors and sheriff's detectives in that Illinois community were indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury and conspiracy. Or Jeffrey Pierce, convicted of rape in 1986 based on false testimony linking him to hair evidence found on the victim by the now notorious Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchist, then freed based on DNA evidence from his hair and semen. Or Ronald Cotten who was also released from jail after serving a lengthy term for rape on the basis of DNA evidence linking the crime to another man despite the absolute certainty of the victim's eyewitness identification. In this case, the victim, Jennifer Thompson, publicly apologized and later promulgated the uncertainty of eyewitness testimony on a TV documentary and an op-ed page article. For many, the two chapters that Dr. Lee and Mr. Tirnady devote to the O.J. case will be the high point of the book. Needless to say, the case represented a landmark in the history of the criminal justice system's use of DNA analysis and its shortcomings. As the authors point out, the trial shifted the focus from "is DNA technology reliable?" (it is) to "is there evidence of contamination in collection of the evidence or in the lab?" and "was there fraud by the police or the district attorney in planting or withholding evidence?" Subsequent cases in Los Angeles and elsewhere have demonstrated the reality of the latter claim. All the major characters in the trial show up in the retelling, like some soap opera rerun. The Bronco chase, the legal players and stratagems on both sides, the allegedly corrupt police and incompetent (or worse) evidence technicians, the apparent bigotry of Mark Fuhrman, Judge Ito and his mishandling of the lawyers and, of course, the glove, the socks and the Bruno Magli shoes: all come on for a redux. The discussion of the many blood stains offered in evidence is presented in depth and is necessarily complex. The authors occasionally ridicule the opposing experts on the matter of possible EDTA (anticoagulant) in the blood evidence, analyzed to differentiate stains from a bleeding wound from that of blood in a test tube that may have been used to intentionally frame O.J. There's lots more here: the Herculean task of sorting out the 9/11 victims by the New York City medical examiner's office and lots of DNA labs around the country; spying on Thomas Jefferson's bedroom more than 200 years after his (still alleged) affair with Sally Hemings; Patricia Cornwell's $6 million search for the true identity of Jack the Ripper; the FBI's so far unsuccessful hunt for the anthrax killer by profiling the DNA of Bacillus anthracis strains from various laboratories (the anthrax powder was sent in previously stamped envelopes so no stamp-licked DNA is available); tracing the lineage of the Cohanim, the Jewish priestly class and on and on. DNA technology, like computers, has more or less infiltrated our lives and changed society permanently. Where will all this DNA stuff lead? Will we all be subject to instant identity checks by incorporating a little of our DNA onto plastic "ID" cards and computerizing a national DNA database, not so different from the way social security numbers are currently used? Of course these too might be subject to theft so that at the checkout counter or ATM of the future, we may well have sterile cheek swabs or lancets for blood drops to insure we are who we say we are. Fingerprints and iris identification techniques are already in use in some jurisdictions, not to mention all seeing "big brother" video cams and substance detectors. This book is well worth the effort for those who want a good history of DNA technology and a current state of the art. College level courses in genetics and biochemistry may help. |
