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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Jake Knight

Rankin man shot during home invasion

Crime On April 10, 2014, Lee Williams was shot in the chest at his Hawkins Village home in Rankin, PA during an attempted robbery.
Evidence Two firearms used during the murder were recovered.
DNA The Allegheny County crime lab produced data from DNA found on the guns. The lab found that four or more individuals contributed DNA to both firearms.
Match The mixture data was too complex for the crime lab’s manual interpretation methods, meaning they could not produce match statistics.
TrueAllele On the same DNA data, the computer’s statistic connecting one of the pistols with Mr. Knight was 17.3 thousand.
Cybergenetics    On August 24, 2016, Jennifer Hornyak and Dr. Mark Perlin testified at the trial in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about the computer DNA match statistic.
Outcome On August 26, 2016, Mr. Knight was found guilty of second-degree murder, burglary, and three counts of reckless endangerment. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Media

  • Arrest made in shooting death of man at Rankin housing complex WPXI
  • 19-year old arrested in Rankin shooting death WTAE
  • Rankin man found guilty of second-degree murder Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  • Rankin man convicted of murder in 2014 death TribLive
  • Rankin man sentenced for 2014 shooting death in Hawkins Village Pittsburgh Post-Gazette