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By Root 1919 0

cell fragments are removed, and the remaining mixture is spun in a centrifuge tube. Pure DNA settles at the bottom. The DNA is then amplified. Its double helix is separated into two strands. Technicians add twenty-six short pieces of DNA, called primers: sequences of the chemicals C, A, T, and G that link to the beginning and end of thirteen different places on a person’s DNA. Then replication takes place. When a primer attaches to the beginnings of one of the thirteen sites, it acts like the start button on a photocopying machine, turning on cellular machinery that makes a million copies or more of each site. Copies of the thirteen sites, each about one hundred to six hundred chemical letters long, are separated by size through gel electrophoresis. In this process, a drop containing millions of DNA fragments is placed at one end of a sheet of gel. Electric current pulls the fragment across the gel; the larger the fragment, the more slowly it moves. The fragments, tagged with dye, show up as colored bands under ultraviolet light. The lab compares the length of the thirteen markers to the lengths of a suspect’s thirteen markers. The more markers that match, the greater the odds are that it is a definitive match. If all thirteen strands in one person’s DNA are identical to all the lengths in another person’s, the odds are one in trillions that it isn’t a match.

** Test results can take from several days to weeks using the PCR method of testing. RFLP typing takes months. In some cases it can take up to ten months to obtain test results because the lab is so backlogged.

* A D1S80 test is a PCR-based test that measures the genetic marker known as D1S80 on the DNA strand.

* A prima facie case is one where there is sufficient evidence to shift the burden of proof to the other party. The amount of evidence needed to make a prima facie case varies with the context: in some settings, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is required, in others only proof by a preponderance, or probable cause.

* When a defendant pleads guilty, the prosecution may consent to a deferred sentence; in such cases, the defendant is ordinarily placed on probation, with conditions to be negotiated between the prosecution and defense. The probation may last as long as four years. If the defendant completes the probationary period successfully, the guilty plea is withdrawn and the original charges dismissed. If he fails to complete the probation successfully, his earlier guilty pleas will allow the court to enter a judgment of conviction and sentence him to any sentence authorized by law.

** A deferred prosecution is a more generous arrangement in which the defendant is not required to plead guilty. As with a deferred sentence arrangement, a period of probation is agreed to, with certain conditions attached. If the probation is successful, the charges are dismissed. If the probation is unsuccessful, the defendant must then go to trial, but since he has not pleaded guilty, he still has an opportunity to win acquittal. (C.R.S. 16-7-401 and 16-7-403.)

* Colorado law recognizes a privilege that can shield from disclosure the things that some crime victims say to a “victim’s advocate, ”such as a community-based rape crisis or domestic violence counselor, but that term is expressly defined not to include a person employed by a law enforcement agency. C.R.S13-90-107 (I) (k).

* In Escobedo v. Illinois, Danny Escobedo was questioned several times without the presence of his lawyer. The final time, he made a self-incriminating statement. His eventual conviction was overturned when the court ruled he’d been denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

* The law demands that a defendant receive the names and addresses of all likely witnesses, all written and recorded witness statements, all police and scientific reports, notes and test results, tangible evidence, incidentals like crime-scene logs and telephone records, fingerprint lifts, records of blood swatches or pictures thereof, and any other results of all law enforcement investigations. The process by which this