Case report: Coincidental inclusion in a 17-locus Y-STR mixture, wrongful conviction and exoneration

Greg Hampikian; Gianluca Peri; Shih Shiang Lo; Mong-Hwa Chin; Kuo Lan Liu

doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2017.08.004

Case report: Coincidental inclusion in a 17-locus Y-STR mixture, wrongful conviction and exoneration

Greg Hampikian^*, Gianluca Peri, Shih Shiang Lo, Mong-Hwa Chin, Kuo Lan Liu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Technology Law

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the case of a suspect (Suspect-3) who was convicted (and later exonerated) of participating in the multiple-attacker rape of two women. The forensic evidence against him was his inclusion in a 17-marker Y-STR mixture isolated from semen on one victim's clothing. The DNA inclusion produced a match statistic with a combined probability of inclusion of 1 in 741, and a Likelihood Ratio of 3296. While the defense team was told that Suspect-3 was included in the semen DNA mixture, they were not told that all of the Y-STR alleles could also be explained by just the other two accused attackers’ haplotypes. Suspect-3 was subsequently freed after the Taiwan Association for Innocence requested re-examination of the incriminating mixed DNA sample. The Criminal Investigation Bureau was then able to exclude him using an extended set of Y-STR markers (23 loci), leading to his exoneration.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-4
Number of pages	4
Journal	Forensic Science International: Genetics
Volume	31
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2017.08.004
State	Published - 1 Nov 2017

Keywords

Coincidental inclusion
Complex DNA
DNA mixture
Exoneration
Innocence
Y-STR

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title = "Case report: Coincidental inclusion in a 17-locus Y-STR mixture, wrongful conviction and exoneration",

abstract = "We report the case of a suspect (Suspect-3) who was convicted (and later exonerated) of participating in the multiple-attacker rape of two women. The forensic evidence against him was his inclusion in a 17-marker Y-STR mixture isolated from semen on one victim's clothing. The DNA inclusion produced a match statistic with a combined probability of inclusion of 1 in 741, and a Likelihood Ratio of 3296. While the defense team was told that Suspect-3 was included in the semen DNA mixture, they were not told that all of the Y-STR alleles could also be explained by just the other two accused attackers{\textquoteright} haplotypes. Suspect-3 was subsequently freed after the Taiwan Association for Innocence requested re-examination of the incriminating mixed DNA sample. The Criminal Investigation Bureau was then able to exclude him using an extended set of Y-STR markers (23 loci), leading to his exoneration.",

keywords = "Coincidental inclusion, Complex DNA, DNA mixture, Exoneration, Innocence, Y-STR",

author = "Greg Hampikian and Gianluca Peri and Lo, {Shih Shiang} and Mong-Hwa Chin and Liu, {Kuo Lan}",

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AU - Chin, Mong-Hwa

AU - Liu, Kuo Lan

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N2 - We report the case of a suspect (Suspect-3) who was convicted (and later exonerated) of participating in the multiple-attacker rape of two women. The forensic evidence against him was his inclusion in a 17-marker Y-STR mixture isolated from semen on one victim's clothing. The DNA inclusion produced a match statistic with a combined probability of inclusion of 1 in 741, and a Likelihood Ratio of 3296. While the defense team was told that Suspect-3 was included in the semen DNA mixture, they were not told that all of the Y-STR alleles could also be explained by just the other two accused attackers’ haplotypes. Suspect-3 was subsequently freed after the Taiwan Association for Innocence requested re-examination of the incriminating mixed DNA sample. The Criminal Investigation Bureau was then able to exclude him using an extended set of Y-STR markers (23 loci), leading to his exoneration.

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