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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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[-] ubergeek@lemmy.today 22 points 1 week ago

DNA testing of a candy wrapper, on a public sidewalk would be so laughed out of court by even a public defender, its amusing to think about.

The cell phone, fair chance nothing is on it, or if it's even the shooter's, which would be another thing. Its likely a burner phone, and finding a burner phone in NYC is like finding gum under a table.

[-] Bureaucrat@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago

Okay but hear me out they caught a guy in The Wire by DNA testing a soda can he left behind after a shooting.

[-] jack@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

famous real event, The Wire

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago

Also as a biologist I gotta say I’m incredibly fucking dubious about how trace DNA is used as evidence

Like, contamination is just so easy. We had to keep a specific room where you couldn’t even touch the light switch without gloves to avoid contamination. It’s sooooo easy for stray DNA to get in your shit. And thats where the stuff I’m looking for is in relatively large pieces of tissue.

It’s the perfect mess, it sticks around long enough that it can ruin your shit, but also fragile enough that you have to be careful to not destroy it.

I just don’t trust that the tiny bit of DNA you found on an item on the street of midtown manhattan means fucking anything. I don’t feel like that tells you anything more than “This guy was in the city in the last week”

Oh you swabbed the shell casing? How do you know it didn’t roll into a puddle of spit on the sidewalk? How do you know that DNA came from the shooter? You don’t know shit.