Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Spector's DNA, or lack thereof


by blogger jgl

This is one drawback with the glorification of forensic science. Incorrect conclusions are being drawn when DNA evidence is NOT found.

The Phil Spector murder trial entered its seventh week with the emphasis again turning to forensic evidence and the defense losing a bid for a mistrial.

A criminalist testified Monday that the music producer's DNA was not detected on the gun that killed Lana Clarkson, but suggested it might have been hidden under the large amount of the actress' blood on the weapon...

...The defense is expected to argue that the absence of Spector's DNA on the gun means he did not pull the trigger and that Clarkson killed herself. The prosecution may argue that Spector wiped off the gun at some point...

Shame on you, defense team. It's tough to recover DNA from touch. He could have shot the gun and licked the sides, but there still might not be enough DNA to produce a profile... especially when a mixture is involved.

Just because you can't see the needle, doesn't mean it's not in the haystack.

21 comments:

CSI:UK said...

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." - Dr Carl Sagan US Astronomer

Although some could argue that The onus is always on the affirmative to provide the evidence. I don't think this works when we are discussing an exact science though, or resolving an argument in court.

Good Blog BTW.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what the timeline or legalities of it would be--probably "too long" and "not even"--but I imagine it would make for a highly intructive demonstration if the prosecutors could send something the lead defender has been handling, like a pen or something, to the lab for a DNA profile. Eh.

There are just so many counterexamples the prosecution could raise on this, it should be easy enough to dismiss.

Mr Mans Wife said...

Just wanted to tell you, I've been having a bit of a read through your posts - Fascinating blog!

Anonymous said...

Steve Renteria has testified that traces of amylase were swabbed from both Clarkson's breast as well as Spector's genitalia. The prosecution is rolling right now, and if Spector's former attorney Sara Caplan decides to testify on possible evidence removal by Dr. Lee instead of going to the slammer, the defense is going to have a tough road to hoe. -ECK

Anonymous said...

Isn't it just a little suspicious that someone would go to a house of a friend,upon invitation,and then decide that the foyer of this friends house would be the perfect place to commit suicide? It seems also very convenient that this particular friend just happened to have a gun readily available for the deed. Just curious, would there be that much blood on the gun? KM

Anonymous said...

As far as the blood on the gun, why would there be so much and then it is said that the DNA evidence wasn't found?? I believe that there is some way to appoint Phil Spector as the killer. This just falls into a all to easy story line. I believe Spector is in fact guilty he just came out lucky do to inconclusive evidence. -TY

UAB MSFS Program said...

for the students...
good comments.

although i have no firt hand knowledge, I believe there is significant spatter both at entrance wounds and exit wounds, hence the blood on the gun.

for DNA, they no doubt could get a profile from the blood (hers), but that isn't relevent to the investigation since there is no doubt the gun was used to kill her.

the question is whether phil touched the gun (and left his DNA on it). all of her blood on the gun would make finding his DNA even harder since it would interfere with the analysis.
-jgl

Anonymous said...

KM... First off, Specter was not Lana's friend. She had never met him before. So now we add, a woman goes to a strange man's house after her work shift, takes her gun, puts her purse on her arm, sits in the foyer, and shoots herself looking at a guy like Specter as her last view of the world. Duh. I doubt that very much! ewww

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