New DNA testing software that promises to solve unsolvable crimes has upheld the conviction of a Muskegon man. According to the company’s website, STRmix is a forensic software program that can determine whose DNA is whose when two or more profiles have been mixed together. So far, the software has been used by the State of New York and the United States Army.
On Tuesday, The Michigan appeals court upheld the armed robbery conviction of a man in Muskegon County. Prosecutors had used a sweat sample taken from a shoe left at the scene of the crime as their key piece of evidence, while the defense argued that the shoe revealed the DNA of more than one person, leaving the evidence as inconclusive.
However, John Buckleton, using STRmix software, testified that the odds of someone other than Elamin Muhammad producing the DNA profile was one in 100 billion.
Before the creation of STRmix software, Buckleton made a name for himself as one of the DNA experts in the O.J. Simpson murder case.