Teacher Overhead #1

NOVA: Murder, Rape, and DNA

1. Why did the police focus on Jim Wade as a prime suspect?

2. Why was Denise denied contact with her daughter?

3. Why did social workers tell Alicia that her father raped her?

4. Why did Alicia change her story?

5. How does DNA evidence work?

6. Why did the police fail to examine an important suspect?

7. Is the DNA evidence going to clear Jim Wade? Why?

"Just when a scientific principle or discovery crosses the line between the experimental and demonstrable stages is difficult to define. Somewhere in this twilight zone the evidential force of the principle must be recognized, and while courts will go a long way in admitting expert testimony deduced from a well-recognized scientific principle or discovery, the thing from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field to which it belongs."--Frye v. U.S., 293 F. 1030 (1923)

8. Why was the prosecution amazed at the results of the DNA tests?

9. Why did the social service agencies ignore the verdict of the court?

10. Why had the issue gone on for so long?

11. What conclusions can you reach about the admissibility of DNA evidence in court?