The Wonders Of DNA
Posted by VickyC on December 22nd, 2009
DNA led to the exoneration of an innocent man and the capture of a guilty one YEARS after the crimes were committed.
There was a story from a few days ago from Florida. James Bain, now 54 years old, was exonerated after being jailed for 35 years for a crime he did not commit. He was convicted when he was 19 for burglary, kidnapping and rape of a 9 year old boy. In 2001, the state of Florida passed a statute that allowed old cases to be re-opened for DNA testing. After this happened, Mr. Bain submitted 4 motions to have his case re-opened for testing, but was refused each time. On the fifth time, his motion was granted and he was entitled to a hearing. The presiding judge stated “He’s just not connected with this particular incident… Mr. Bain, I’m now signing the order, sir… You are a free man. Congratulations”. And with that, the courtroom erupted into rapturous applause.. Just like in a movie.. But movies normally end there. Have you ever stopped to think about what kind of lives people like Mr Bain would have after being released from prison where he had been kept wrongly for 35 years for a crime he didn’t commit??? I’m sure there’s some kind of compensation or settlement from the state – probably quite hefty in this case, given the amount of time he did for this crime..
Luckily for Mr. Bain, his loving mother put her car and house into her son’s name saying that “I want him to have something by himself. He’s suffered enough”. Mr. Bain had been very worried about his mother’s health, as she had been in and out of hospitals for a long time. I mean, poor guy.. At least he can be with his family, and they are loving and supportive.
The victim was informed of Mr. Bain’s situation. Imagine how they must feel.. DNA evidence cleared the man that they believed committed a horrible crime against them.. But that means that a guilty man has been roaming free for the last 35 years.
And he served that long for not even killing someone while killers are paroled and allowed back into society.. I mean, the crime was awful, and the guilty party should definitely be made to do the time.. but it’s still terrible!
And then on the flip side, there was a story from the UK today about a British man, Paul Hutchinson, being caught for a murder he committed 26 years ago. He raped and murdered a young woman, Colette Aram, and after sending a letter taunting local police for not being able to catch him, blended back into society. During the original investigation, police heard how a man was seen in a pub sipping lemonade with his victim before killing her, and they took hundreds of pieces of DNA from the pub and found DNA from both the killer and his victim. Years later, in 2003, the authorities began to use a new method of family genetic profiling by seeing if a killer’s profile is related genetically to anyone currently in their database. In this case, they got a hit, by catching Paul Hutchinson because his brother’s DNA was already on file.
How amazing is that. 26 years, this man has probably been patting himself on the back every single day while living his “normal” life because he had literally gotten away with murder. But then they got him.. And he admitted to the terrible crime he committed. The girl’s poor family. I hope they finally feel some justice to the terrible things that happened to Colette.
Sorry for the depressing post, but the wonders of DNA are good – because they allow innocent people to be exonerated and guilty people to be finally able to be caught.
Tags: Amazing, Caught, Crime, DNA, Exonerated, Genetic, Guilty, Innocent, Jailed, James Bain, Judge, Justice, News, Paul Hutchinson, Wonders
