Grant’s defence hammers away at DNA evidence

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This article was published 15/02/2017 (3171 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A renowned geneticist who denounced key DNA results in the second-degree murder case of 13-year-old victim Candace Derksen continued to point out problems with the lab work during cross-examination Tuesday.

Frederick Bieber is a Harvard professor who has taught courses on medical and forensic DNA analysis and has served on several DNA analysis advisory boards for government agencies in the U.S. as well as for the RCMP. He told Mark Grant’s second-degree murder trial he didn’t discuss details of the case with a second expert who raised much of the same criticisms of the Thunder Bay lab whose test results linked Grant to Candace’s death.

Grant, now 53, is on trial for second-degree murder in the death of Candace Derksen, who went missing on her way home from school in November 1984 and was found tied up and frozen to death in a lumber-yard shed nearly two months later. DNA evidence was considered a crucial part of the Winnipeg Police Service’s cold-case unit arrest of Grant in 2007, 23 years after the death.

Bieber and Bruce Budowle, who testified last week, both conducted reviews of Molecular World’s work. Both decided the results were inconclusive at best, showed inaccuracies and “suspect bias” in the interpretation of the data, and shouldn’t be trusted by the court.

Under questioning from Crown attorney Mike Himmelman Tuesday, Bieber said he did not consult the opinions of other experts, including Budowle, before coming to his own conclusion about the lab work. Bieber and Budowle had collaborated on five publications, and Himmelman asked if the two were friends, and whether this would have influenced their opinions on this case.

“We’re friendly with one another but I wouldn’t say we’re pals,” Bieber said. They talked about the case since both were coming to Winnipeg to testify, he said, but they didn’t go into detail and spoke mainly about scheduling issues.

Bieber said he never looks to others to guide his opinions on DNA analysis because doing so could lead to the same problem with bias he’s accused Molecular World of having “fallen victim to.”

On Monday, Bieber suggested the lab had deliberately ignored data that would have excluded Grant and, in results Bieber described as “fatally flawed,” determined him to be a match to the DNA found on the twine used to tie Candace’s ankles and wrists.

Some of the Crown’s questions were aimed at the thoroughness of Bieber’s review of the file, pointing out the lab did run a second test of a blood sample of Grant’s, contrary to what Bieber had testified Monday. Bieber said he wasn’t provided with that documentation earlier, but he continued to point out mistakes in how Molecular World analyzed the samples.

Grant’s defence team is expected to finish calling evidence later this week as the nearly month-long trial in front of Court of Queen’s Bench Judge Karen Simonsen prepares to come to a close.

Grant was previously convicted in Candace’s death after a jury trial in 2011, but the conviction was overturned on an appeal that argued the jury should have been allowed to hear evidence that could have pointed to a different suspect.

katie.mayfreepress.mb.caTwitter: thatkatiemay