An expert witness who worked as a reporting scientist at the RCMP forensic lab in Halifax giving the jury at the second-degree murder trial of Dennis Oland a crash course in the analysis of DNA – which is inherited genetic material.
Joy Kearsey taking the jury through a presentation she says is sometimes used in court to provide information on DNA analysis. She says that 99.9-percent of our DNA is identical and no two people have identical DNA except for identical twins. Also DNA is identical in every cell and doesn’t change with age which Kearsey says is helpful in older or cold cases.
Kearsey saying that a DNA profile basically boils down to a set of numbers. She explains the estimated probability of selecting an unrelated indivudal at random from the Canadian Caucasian population with the same profile is 1 in 97 billion. Kearsey also going through the steps for idetnification of blood which are 1) visual examination 2) screening test and then 3) confirmatory test.
Kearsey saying that the ideal amount of DNA testifing is 1 nanogram, which is one billionth of a gram.
The trial has heard a brown jacket seized from Dennis Oland’s home on July 14, 2011—a week after Richard Oland’s body was found—had four areas of blood on it and the DNA profile matched that of Richard Oland. A drycleaning tag was still attached to that jacket. Constable David MacDonald, who was a forensic identification technician with the Saint John poilce in July of 2011.
CHSJ News reporter Laura Lyall is covering the trial and is live-tweeting from the courtroom. You can follow along on the CHSJ News Twitter page or the Wave News Twitter page.
