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79 Tex. L. Rev. 921 (2000-2001)
Arresting Crime: Expanding the Scope of DNA Databases in America

handle is hein.journals/tlr79 and id is 937 raw text is: Arresting Crime: Expanding the Scope of DNA Databases in Americat I. Introduction The use of DNA1 identification in trials begins with the rape and murder of two teenage girls in 1986 in the small English village of Narborough. The killings led to the eventual prosecution of a serial rapist and murderer named Colin Pitchfork,2 the first criminal to be identified and subsequently prosecuted strictly on the basis of his DNA.? The United States soon followed suit in 1987.4 Since then DNA testing has been used regularly as evidence in criminal cases in the United States and t I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Texas Law Review for all of their hard work in preparing this note for publication, with special thanks to Lindsey Godfrey, Kendyl Hanks, and Maidie Ryan for their assistance and skillful editing job. I would also like to thank my family for all of their love and support during my law school career. 1. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is found in every cell in the human body and consists of two molecular strands, oriented in opposite directions, which are made up of repeating sequences of one of four components called nucleotides. See Leroy Hood & Lee Rowen, Genes, Genomes, and Society, in GENETIC SECRETS: PROTECTING PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY IN THE GENETIC ERA 3-5 (Mark A. Rothstein ed., 1997). The nucleotide bases, guanine (G), cytosine (C), adenine (A), and thymine (T), are paired across the molecular strands, and together form the familiar double-helix DNA molecule. See id. at 4-5. Variations in the order of the nucleotide bases spell out units of genetic information, the sequences of code known as genes. See DANIEL J. KELVES & LEROY HOOD, THE CODE OF CODES 15 (1992). 2. See Ronald Bailey, Unlocking the Cells, REASON MAGAZINE, Jan. 1, 2000, at 50, 50. The capture of Colin Pitchfork, a 27-year-old baker in Leicestershire, England, was the subject of Joseph Wambaugh's 1989 best seller, The Blooding. See JOSEPH WAMBAUGH, THE BLOODING (1989). After the killings of two teenage girls near the small English village of Narborough, police investigating the crime requested that every man between the ages of 13 and 30 in three nearby villages, more than 5000 people, submit blood samples for DNA analysis. See Jerry Adler & John McCormick, The DNA Detectives, NEWSWEEK, Nov. 16, 1998, at 66, 66. Pitchfork's DNA matched the semen taken from the bodies, and his subsequent conviction made Pitchfork the first murderer to be identified on the basis of his DNA. Id. It should be noted, however, that Pitchfork was not identified originally through the DNA match; he was arrested after police learned that he had convinced another baker to take the test in his place and subsequently confessed to the crime. See ROBERT J. GOODWIN & JIMMY GURULE, CRIMINAL AND SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE 287 (1997). 3. See Adler & McCormick, supra note 2, at 66. Additionally, the exoneration of 17-year-old Rodney Buckland, originally suspected of committing one of the murders, makes him the first person in history to be cleared of a crime by DNA evidence. Id. 4. The first use of DNA evidence in a United States court came in the 1987 trial in Orlando, Florida of accused rapist Tommy Lee Andrews. See GOODWIN & GURULE, supra note 2, at 287. Scientists determined that the semen from the victim matched Andrews's DNA to a probability of one in ten billion. Id. Andrews was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Id.

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