The Privy Council has overturned the conviction of a man of murder on the basis of fundamentally flawed DNA evidence purporting to indicate a ‘one in 46 million’ chances of there not being a match with the man prompting a review of hundreds of cases relying on analysis from the same lab.
Julian Washington’s conviction for murder and attempted murder in Bermuda, after he spent over 10 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, was quashed yesterday by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (previously reported here). In January 2012 Stefan Burgees was killed by a gunman dressed in all black, with a black helmet and visor and black gloves as he left a friend’s house. His friend, Davano Brimmer, was also shot but survived. The shooter fled and six bullet casings were retrieved by officers at the scene.
DNA was recovered from the bullet casings and analysed against the DNA of several suspects, including Washington. His clothes were seized so that they could be sampled for gunshot residue, but no residue particles were found. Washington told the police that he did not know anything about the murder and had nothing to do with it. He provided an alibi which was corroborated at trial. Nonetheless he was convicted in May 2014, sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years to be served before being considered for release.
The jury had been told Washington’s DNA had been found on bullet casings recovered from the scene. The DNA evidence at trial was analysed by Candy Zuleger, the laboratory director of the now defunct Florida-based Trinity DNA Solutions. who told the jury that that there was a one in 46 million chance that the DNA found on the bullet casings was not from Washington.
In his appeal to the Privy Council, the Death Penalty Project obtained fresh evidence to challenge the DNA expert’s testimony. The Privy Council, settings out its reasons for concluding that a miscarriage of justice had occurred, expressed concern that the inaccurate evidence given by the DNA expert in the proceedings ‘effectively compelled the jury’ to find Julian guilty. The government in Bermuda has confirmed that reviews are being undertaken in nearly 250 cases to correct potential miscarriages of justice.
‘I feel a sense of victory tempered with the bitterness of injustice,’ commented Julian Washington. ‘The process that led to my wrongful conviction, the flawed evidence and biased testimony that sealed my fate, is a scar that may never fully heal. The wounds of the legal battle run deep, leaving behind a trail of pain, stress, and trauma that lingers in my soul. The pain, stress, and trauma that spread throughout the courtroom affected not just myself, but the families inside the court room as well.’
‘Julian’s case has exposed a problem at the heart of the criminal justice system in Bermuda,’ commented Parvais Jabbar, co-executive director of the Death Penalty Project. ‘Whilst we are delighted that Julian has been publicly vindicated, this is not an isolated incident. There will be more cases in which flawed DNA evidence was used at trial. An urgent independent review is needed to quickly and effectively determine the scale of the problem and remedy further miscarriages of justice.’
