Case Studies
Organised Crime
R –v- D [2008]
D was a member of a travelling community involved in a feud with fellow members of the travelling community. Following a police warrant to search the travellers’ site, the defendant was found to be sleeping on top of a loaded firearm. The defendant denied knowledge of the firearm, however following DNA analysis, he was forensically linked to the firearm in question, which the Crown suggested proved that he had at some point been in possession of the firearm.
We argued on behalf of our client that the DNA result in question was unsafe as the system used was not considered safe by American FBI standards based on nanograms and picograms. Having heard all the legal arguments, the learned Judge accepted our submissions that the evidence was unreliable and the charges against our client were discharged.
