It can be used to connect multiple victims to one attacker, like in the case of a man accused of raping six women from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg.
It can uphold juries’ findings from decades ago, like when a test confirmed the attacker in a 1974 Virginia Beach rape case.
It can exonerate innocent people and convict guilty ones — if the lawyers fighting to defend or prosecute grasp the science behind it.
But not all lawyers fully understand what happens when criminal DNA evidence is tested and how forensic scientists come to their conclusions. And not understanding the science could lead to trouble in the courtroom.
The state Department of Forensic Science is hoping to change that by offering a crash course in DNA testing.
The department is hosting daylong trainings so prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges can familiarize themselves with what goes on inside the forensic science laboratory.
“Justice requires a level playing field, and I think this training is a major step in leveling the playing field between defense attorneys and prosecutors and helping to ensure they have the same knowledge base and background,” Richmond Circuit Court Judge Bradley Cavedo said.
Cavedo is one of several steering committee members that helped the training get off the ground last year and is planning more at the state’s four forensic labs at the end of the month and in November.
He said before the training, all he knew about DNA testing was what he’d been exposed to while presiding over trials involving DNA evidence.
“They don’t teach it in law school,” he said.
Chesapeake Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy Parr, another steering committee member, said one of the glaring misconceptions the training addresses is the accessibility of the forensic scientists.
She said a lot of defense attorneys incorrectly believe that the state’s forensic science department works for the commonwealth’s attorneys’ offices and only prosecutors can ask the scientists questions about the DNA testing procedures before the trial.
But defense attorneys have just as much right to call or visit the forensic scientists and get a better understanding of what tests were performed on the evidence in order to ask the correct questions that could benefit their clients.
“From a defense attorney’s perspective, we’re coming in saying, ‘How can I find potential mistakes that I need to expose to a jury if this goes to trial?'” Richmond-based defense attorney Elliott Bender, another steering committee member, said.
The training, modeled after the Arizona Forensic Science Academy and taught by state forensic scientists, goes over the basics: What is DNA, where it’s found on the body, when testing began, what can be tested.
Then it gets more complicated. Trainees learn how the DNA is extracted from the evidence and compared to other samples and how a DNA profile is developed and interpreted.
For the next training, the forensic science department is adding a session on the science behind DUI testing — how blood alcohol and urine is tested, how breathalyzers work and how scientists analyze the results.
Signups for the fall training are closed, but steering committee members said they hope it’ll be offered annually.
“No Commonwealth’s (attorney) wants an innocent person to be convicted, and no defense attorney wants an innocent person to be convicted, so the more science you can have, the more these facts are undisputed,” Bender said.
Marie Albiges, 757-247-4962, malbiges@dailypress.com
