DNA testing has been a part of criminal legal proceedings for quite some time now. But now the services of DNA evidence have extended to animals. In this case, to the defendant Jeb; a two-year-old service dog to an elderly man.
Jeb was accused of killing the neighbor's dog, a little Pomeranian named Vlad. And the accusation turned into a heated feud as to whether or not Jeb should be allowed to live or not. The neighbors, emotional (understandably), wanted justice for their deceased loved one...and may have pointed a more or less blind finger at Jeb, though they did allegedly find Vlad's body with Jeb standing nearby (to their credibility). Jeb's parents, however, insisted he was not an aggressive dog and there was no way he would commit such a heinous crime. They believed in Jeb's innocence and profusely denied any kind of guilt in the neighbor dog's death. But when the case made it to trial, the judge saw a dangerous animal and sentenced Jeb to death row.
Not ready to give up yet, upon hearing new knowledge that the neighbor dog's body was still in a freezer, Jeb's mom swabbed his cheek for DNA and had the DNA samples sent to a forensic medical center. Given there was some reasonable doubt in the case (local vet testified there was an aggressive stray dog in the area as well as many fox's and coyote's) it was agreed on that the DNA from Jeb could be compared to the wound marks in Vlad...and soon the results were in, the DNA did not match.
Jeb was now a free pup again, and though we are sincerely sorry for the terrible fate of Vlad, we are happy that Jeb was not taken down as the perpetrator.
Keep living life Jeb
RIP Vlad.
