People v. Cordova

Here the California Supreme Court affirms the death penalty imposed upon Cordova for the rape and murder of an 8-year old girl in 1979.  The girl was found in her backyard and biological samples were taken from her body.  The police suspected a neighbor, Flores, but could not come up with sufficient evidence to charge him.  Flores later committed suicide.  When DNA tests became common and affordable, the government exhumed Flores body to see if his DNA matched those of semen found inside the victim.  They did not match.  The case remained cold until 2002 when a "cold hit" was found with the DNA of Cordova, now living in Colorado.  Cordova didn't deny it was his DNA but explained that the victim's mother was a roundheeled, barfly, with whom Cordova had slept.  His DNA must have been transferred from bedding or towels to the daughter.  A jury convicted him and sentenced him to die and the California Supreme Court affirms unanimously.

Coincidentally, I read this piece on a man whose paternity was denied because DNA in his semen did not match the DNA in his saliva.  I relate the two not because I think Cordova had a chimeral defense, but to make a broader point. People tend to misunderstand science and casuists often capitalize on this.  It was possible to find an expert witness, not so long ago, who would tell a jury it was impossible for a person to have more than one DNA profile.  No scientist would actually say such nonsense in front of her peers, as that is not how how the scientific process works.  The correct statement (at the time) would have been that no person has ever been observed to have more than one DNA profile.  Science is a continuing process where nothing it truly sacred.  Scientific theories and laws are continually found to be incomplete, not explaining new observations.  Einstein is venerated as a great Physical theoretician, but when observations conflict with his theories, science advances.  No informed person views these new findings as an "insult" to Einstein.  Rather they reflect the beauty of a system of thought that allows human beings to continually improve their understanding of the world.  Unfortunately science and the law tend to bring out the worst in members of each profession.  Fingerprints were previously thought unassailable, until it was observed otherwise.  True scientists are excited when new observations conflict with accepted theories, because then the fun starts.  Casuists get defensive and retreat to the comforts of denial.