Communications of the ACM
Texas Man Close to Exoneration After Algorithm Leads to New Suspect
Lydell Grant, center, celebrates his release on bond with his mother, Donna Poe, and Alonzo Poe, his brother, in Houston on Nov. 26, 2019.
Credit: Jon Shapley / Houston Chronicle
A man convicted for murder is on track to have his conviction overturned, thanks to an algorithm that reanalyzed DNA and pointed to a new suspect. Lydell Grant's conviction hinged on DNA collected from the victim's fingernails, which contained material from both the victim and a second male, but the Houston crime lab could not conclusively trace the other material to Grant.
The Innocence Project of Texas collaborated with University of New Haven researchers to apply probabilistic genotyping to the DNA with Cybergenetics' TruAllele software, which runs DNA data through a statistical algorithm.
The results did not implicate Grant, and Cybergenetics used the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Index System to identify a new suspect, who confessed to the crime. Forensic scientists suggest this process could potentially help solve cold cases or lead to more exonerations.
From NBC News
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