Lab defends work after prosecutors dismiss DC murder case, claim DNA was lost

When Kavon Young was first charged with the 2010 murder of John Pernell, the affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court said the DNA profile recovered from the victim matched the DNA profile of Young.

The document said the probability it was not Young was one in 3.4 billion in the U.S. African American population. Prosecutor Michael Spence stood by that result for five and a half years — until the eve of the trial.

“I just kept saying, ‘Is this a joke?’” said Yolanda Pernell-Voglezon, one of Pernell’s daughters.

“We left the conversation still being very confused as to what exactly happened. How could this happen?” said Ayana Pernell, his other daughter.

It was back on April 18 that prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office decided to dismiss the murder case against Young, telling Pernell’s daughters they could no longer rely on the DNA evidence.

Since then, News4 has repeatedly reached out to Bode Technology, the private lab that did the original testing. The lab declined to comment, until now.

A spokesman for Bode Technology reached out after seeing the story News4 aired on June 4 to say, “Bode Technology is confident in our report and analysis of the testing performed.”

The private lab also pushed back on a claim it had lost evidence in the case.

At trial, Spence wanted to tell the jury “The government’s laboratory Bode Technology negligently lost the extracts,” meaning the DNA could not be retested. but a spokesman for bode told News4, “Bode Technology records reflect that the DNA extracts most likely were returned by hand, along with the evidence in the case to the Metropolitan Police Department.”

The case caught the attention of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser after Pernell’s daughters sent a letter to her office.

“I have been briefed on it by the deputy mayor,” Bowser said at a recent news conference. “I expect to talk to the U.S. Attorney about it”.

Pernell’s daughters said they have been devastated by the decision to drop the case and have now lost confidence they will ever see justice for their father.

After Bode Technology said it stands by its original dna analysis, News4 reached out again to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for comment and has not heard back.

News4 has also repeatedly reached out to the attorneys representing Kavon Young and has not heard back.

from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/rWoi1bf