Based in Austin, Texas, Dr. Danielo Perez is a forensic pathologist who has worked with a number of Central Texas counties and also undertaken privately contracted autopsies. Dr. Danielo Perez of Austin developed an interest in forensic science during his high school years, when he became interested in the OJ Simpson trial and the mechanics of how forensics informed the case.
In the high-profile early-1990s case, prosecutors employed restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), a type of DNA testing in which DNA strands are cut at specific spots and the strip lengths analyzed. The length between the target spots within the DNA strand are unique to each person. Thus, when a match is found between strand length for DNA at a crime scene and that of the suspect, it can add to evidence that leads to conviction.
The issue with RFLP is that it does not meet “beyond-a-reasonable-doubt” standards. In addition to the remote possibility of another person having matching strands, it is necessary to obtain an RFLP sample that is intact and relatively large for it to have value in court. In the OJ Simpson case, blood was taken from a number of sources, including a car and clothes, and it involved a mixture of the victims’ and the suspect’s blood. Since the case, this technique has been supplanted by a superior polymerase chain reaction technique of analyzing and identifying DNA.
