– This is on the basis of an overall assessment – including that the DNA trace was incorrect and already weak. And that the convict had denied guilt in the relationship.
– This means that the case must now go to the Western High Court, as far as those matters are concerned, the lawyer says.
The Attorney General announced in early September that it had asked the Special Court of Appeal to reopen the case. This happened when the conclusion in the DNA statement was changed after more precise investigations.
The study was launched after doubts were raised about the accuracy of the model used in the past, where DNA was compared on ten points. In total, approximately 12,900 criminal cases have been reviewed.
When the DNA profile of the convict in the case of the drugs was examined on 16 points, the conclusion was changed.
According to Jan Schneider, the new assessment means that one can not say anything about who the track comes from.
– It shows that one can not say anything about who the human DNA comes from. Therefore, it is of course a useless clue, which has initially been presented by the Public Prosecutor as real evidence, says the lawyer.
He says that the case concerns two matters concerning the possession of hash on a property that the man was the owner of. But according to the lawyer, there was uncertainty as to whether the man used it or it was rented out.
On the hash, police found a DNA trace.
– Then you find a DNA trace on it, which you get analyzed. The first test boils down to the fact that it’s his with some probability. Based on that, and that it has been found on that property, he is then found guilty, the lawyer says.
But that assessment of the DNA trace was thus erroneous.
In the case, the accused man was sentenced to two years in prison. But it is part of history that the sentence of two years for the convict was imposed due to several circumstances and not just those relating to narcotics.
– Therefore, one can not say anything about how large a reduction in the penalty it will lead to if there is acquittal in these circumstances. But it is my assessment that it will lead to a reduction in the penalty, says Jan Schneider.
Ritzau is trying to get an answer from the prosecution on whether it will still demand the man convicted of the hash – just on other evidence – or it believes he should now be acquitted.
This is not the first time that the police’s review of the DNA cases has suggested that a case should be reopened.
In August, a craftsman was acquitted of two burglaries for which he had been sentenced to 60 days in prison two years earlier. A new investigation led to the fact that it could no longer be concluded that the man had committed the burglaries.
Source: The Nordic Page