Former Police Sgt. Jeff Pelo’s defense attorney forced an Illinois State Police DNA analyst to reverse the conclusion of a report on the stand this morning. Scientist Debra Minton performed DNA testing on biological evidence obtained from the victim of the last January 2005 sexual assault and compared it to DNA from the victim and three men other than Pelo. One of the men is now the victim’s husband. Minton found the victim’s DNA and a minor sample of male DNA on a swab taken from the victim’s cheek. There was not enough male DNA to make a positive identification with any of the three men’s samples, but Minton said she could use it for exclusion purposes. She found in her original report that two of the men could be excluded, but the victim’s now husband could not be excluded. But under questioning from defense attorney Michael Rosenblat, Minton said the sample from the husband should be excluded. At the time of the test, she explained, the Illinois State Police used a different policy than the one in place today, which would exclude the husband. Rosenblat then asked whether that meant the minor sample of male DNA in the swab should belong to the victim’s attacker. Minton said she didn’t know. Prosecutors have not yet presented evidence of whether that minor sample was compared to Pelo’s DNA, if such a test was performed. Pelo, 43, is on trial for the alleged rapes of four women between 2002 and 2005 and the stalking of a fifth wo ...
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