Testing the Gene Fit

摘要

Days before christmas, robert sha-piro sent reporters covering the O.J. Simpson saga his own version of genetic samples: toiletry sets from Bijan, the Hollywood perfumery du jour. The fragrance? DNA eau de toilette, DNA body shampoo, DNA after-shave. Attached were the price tag ($35!) and a note: "Looking forward to seeing you during the trial." Simpson's lead attorney was trying to do more than make reporters smell good. He seemed to be whimsically suggesting that no one take the dreaded DNA acronym too seriously in the ensuing weeks. Hearings on whether the jury will be allowed to weigh the DNA evidence—the linchpin of the prosecution's case—are scheduled to begin this week before Judge Lance Ito. Lacking eyewitnesses and a weapon, prosecutors need the science of genetic testing to prove that Simpson was at the scene when his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman were slashed to death. Court documents filed by the Los Angeles district attorney's office last August suggested that drops of blood leading from the murder scene to the rear of Nicole's Bundy Drive condo "match the defendant's type" in three separate DNA tests. The chances that two people could have the same DNA pro- file range anywhere from 1 in 50,000 to 1 in 5 million, according to scientists' most conservative estimates.