On August 10, in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, a woman was in her home when she saw a light go on in her sleeping toddler’s bedroom. She went in to investigate and found a man trying to take money from the child’s piggy bank. The man fled with $20. (The piggy was shaken but neither the piggy, the child, nor the mother was injured.)
The thief had entered the home through a window screen and, in the process, left behind a few drops of blood. Police used DNA testing on the blood samples to link Ryan Mueller, 30, to the crime. If convicted, Mueller faces up to nine years in prison for felony burglary.
At the same time, Thomas Arthur is still on death row in Alabama and Governor Bob Riley still refuses to grant a request for DNA testing in the case, testing that could prove Thomas is innocent.
So, DNA testing can be used in investigating theft from a piggy bank, but not in possibly saving a man’s life. How does this make sense?