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Why are you willing to selectively discount some DNA evidence while you admit other ?
Because the 2 key pieces of evidence should be discounted because they were not arrived at by using the same type of test and were collected differently. All the other DNA testing was done using standard DNA testing in a lab that was nominally set up to do it but which did not always follow all guidelines and procedures and who did not release all data for defense experts to evaluate.
NO DNA that helped the prosecutions case was found initially on the 2 items... the bra clasp and the knife. Regular testing on the rest of the bra had strong findings for Meredith and Rudy. Amanda's DNA was on the knife handle and the bra clasp did have Meredith's as well.
Now the problem comes... the DNA specialist then attempted doing what amounts to Low Count Number (LCN) DNA test which is still experimental in most places and while now accepted in the UK it requires a very specialized expensive lab that must meet many stringent minimum requirements. The tester in this situation had never done this before, the lab was fundamentally lacking in every way to do this test and come up with verifiable, trustworthy data. And yet they did allege that they found MKs DNA or something like it... on the knife... not blood.... no blood on the knife. The DNA would have been in picogram amounts originally and easily contaminated in that lab or elsewhere by the smallest flecks of skin or dust. And there are the same problems with the bra clasp except that along with RS's alleged DNA there are 5 other peoples... unidentified. There can be little doubt that all the DNA and "all" is a very very tiny amount, much smaller than regular standard DNA can reliable even detect as being there...
Add to that no control tests were done and the "evidence" involving these 2 items evaporates. They are rightly to be judged differently from all the other DNA evidence. This looks like a DNA fishing expedition done after no DNA evidence for RS & AK turned up in MK'S bedroom. check these for details http://www.sciencespheres.com/2009/10/methods-of-polizia-pseudoscientificaa.html http://freeaman.001webs.com/pdfs/LCN_DNA_I.pdf http://freeaman.001webs.com/pdfs/LCN_DNA_II.pdf
The phone timing is widely touted as some sort of proof. The postal police actually cannot establish the exact timing that is claimed. there is apparently surveillance camera footage with a time stamp that shows them still en route by car at the time RS made the call. The discrepancy is no more than a few minutes but if this is true it shows either uncertainty or something closer to tweaking facts to discredit RS. I am looking for where I originally saw this as it is actually very important to impeach the police version.
And prior to the call to the regular police RS made a call to his sister-in-law who is a policewoman. And the postal police as far as I know did not mention RS making a call after they came... or if they did it conflicts with the video of them driving there.
those would be the witnesses that appeared months later and whose testimony is doubtful. The running feet and scream women's story cannot be true... a reenactment later showed them to be impossible and they were actually not sure if it was Halloween the night before when there would have been a lot more rowdy students around... And the eyewitness was also discredited.
Low copy number Test... you left out that there are very few labs certified as being acceptable to do that test which is still regarded as experimental and in the UK there is a stringent set of minimum standards for equipment, procedures for the lab itself not to mention the person doing the test. Would you be surprised to hear that the lab that did the test did not meet these requirements in the slightest? It may also be true that though equipped for standard DNA tests was not technically certified at the time even for that? An expert who is convinced the results are reliable when she had never done this type of test before using equipment not designed or set up for such extreme amplification plus leaving out the other calibration tests and tests on a control and not releasing a lot of other details of what she did. She is an employee of the Italian Government just like the prosecutor who unlike many other systems also runs or in this case directs the investigation. The results on the Bra clip and the knife blade are not scientifically usable and should never have been accepted as reliable evidence. This is in the realm of pseudo science. these links have all the details http://freeaman.001webs.com/pdfs/LCN_DNA_I.pdf http://freeaman.001webs.com/pdfs/Methods_of_the_Polizia_PseudoScientifica.pdf The same with pictures and video http://www.sciencespheres.com/2009_10_01_archive.html And New Scientist Magazine has an article about concerns that world experts in DNA testing have. http://www.sciencespheres.com/2009_10_01_archive.html http://freeaman.001webs.com/pdfs/LCN_DNA_II.pdf All of this leaves 2 key bits of evidence, the only 2 alleged to link AK or RS to the crime scene... revealed to not be credible evidence at all no matter what the prosecution expert(s) said about it
This blog is great... the lead post does a good job of showing that the theory came first before any evidence and all the efforts since then have been aimed at proving the originally baseless theory which was based on pop psychology disguised as some sort of science...Dietrologia combined with a casual hunch driven version of BIA Behavioral Interview analysis. http://deception.crimepsychblog.com/?p=78 And just this short clip of Giobbi, the lead investigator at the start... is just about the best encapsulation of the mindset that originated and drove the entire wrongheaded prosecution. THEORY First , evidence after... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWkZPWRS3N0&feature=PlayList&p=A24DFCC06CD8360D&index=0