Has anyone ever done a crime novel about...

"Presumed Innocent" with Harrisson Ford comes to mind. Not strictly DNA, but a heck of a frameup by ... nah, I won't tell.

-cb

Yeah, Presumed Innocent was pretty good.

I can't think of any novels since I don't read a lot of crime fiction, but I've seen plenty of TV shows where people plant DNA evidence.

My little crime book has the MC faking her murder by planting and involving 8 other people. She kills herself and plans on screwing all the people she thinks have her wrong. She planned it out for a long time.

"Enquête sur un citoyen au-dessus de tout soupçon" / "Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto" (A citizen above all suspicion), an Italian movie about a police inspector who kills his mistress and orients the investigation so that he becomes the prime suspect. Obviously, nobody believes that crap...

http://www.imdb.fr/title/tt0065889/combined

Well before DNA became de rigueur. But a frameup, still.

-cb

I wrote one in the spring. The DNA was from sperm, and the way it's done is very clever.

I'm clever, dinna tell ya?

It usually takes much more than DNA to get a conviction, unless teh DNA comes from a lot of blood, or semen in the victim, and even these can often be explained.

DNA is generally completely reliable unless contaminated, and contaminated DNA is noticeable.

But collaborating evidence is usually a must, and a solid alibi can, of course, discount any DNA evidence.

DNA is considered much more reliable in proving innocence than guilt.

I read a book about this - only I cannot remember its title/author! I will have to brave Spider Alley and the not-used-room to get to the book! I may be gone sometime ...

I think an episode of NCIS used planted DNA evidence to frame one of the investigators.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I think an episode of NCIS used planted DNA evidence to frame one of the investigators.

Click to expand...

There was an episode of NYPD Blue where a murderer paid a prostitute to save her used condoms so he could cover the victim's body in an amazing amount of DNA evidence, none of which was the murderer's.

Jamesaritchie said:

DNA is generally completely reliable unless contaminated, and contaminated DNA is noticeable.

But collaborating evidence is usually a must, and a solid alibi can, of course, discount any DNA evidence.

DNA is considered much more reliable in proving innocence than guilt.

Click to expand...

Ah - they are so cute when they think that justice always works.

There have been plenty of cases where a suspect had a solid alibi and was still convicted. The problem is that most alibis are because people saw you - and those people are often friends, family or fellow gang members.

Think of the head of a bikie gang who might be arrested for a murder. You could imagine that his entire gang could swear that he was elsewhere. His family would also back it up.

So someone can have a dozen eye-witnesses that they are somewhere else and the evidence will be ignored.

This isn't theoretical. People with no possible motive and dozens of eye-witnesses that they were elsewhere have been convicted of murder based on DNA evidence alone. Absolutely nothing else corroborative.

A local example (to me) is the Andrew Fitzherbert case - but there are many others.

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Another issue is that DNA can rarely prove innocence in cases of murder. If myself and my accomplice go out and murder someone - how does it prove my innocence if the DNA at the crime scene doesn't match me ?

It just shows that I had an accomplice.

More to the point, there is often no definitive proof that when the DNA at any given place was deposited. Worst still, since murders are usually done by someone the victim knows then the fact that your DNA is found in your sister's lounge-room where she was murdered doesn't really help.

Mac

There's also a great Law and Order SVU Episode centered on a DNA plant/switcharoo.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I think an episode of NCIS used planted DNA evidence to frame one of the investigators.

Click to expand...

That would be Tony. (Anthony DiNozo(sp?)) Yes, I watch a lot of NCIS, and even the new NCIS Los Angeles. (What do you expect from an old Salt?) And of course, CSI, and CSI NY.

In one of my (unpublished) novels a rapist impregnated a woman. The detectives had the DNA from the resulting child, and a strong suspect. The suspect, knowing they were closing in on him, took a used drinking straw, recently tossed in a trashcan, put it in his cup, and left it in another trashcan while in the presence of the detectives.

The cops couldn't believe their luck. They grabbed the straw, ran it through the lab and of course the DNA didn't match the child's.

Hey I've heard of DNA being engineered. And I think there was either a Law & Order or CSI that dealt with a killer that did this in order to pin the murder an innocent person, or to get off. can't remember that part exactly.