DNA

?It?s a great house. I love that house. I?d rather not sell the house, but my wife?s in charge of these things, not me.? Gov. Martin O?Malley on putting his Northeast Baltimore house on the market Article, PG 1B Up Next Sunday A Grander Canyon Hey, Sin City - top this. The Hualapai Nation hopes to lure Las Vegas gamblers to Grand Canyon West. Great views, helicopter rides and did we mention the skywalk? in TRAVEL Wear your own DNA It can decide a murder trial or a paternity case, but DNA also can inspire art and jewelry.

?Hip-hop gave [Don] Imus the language. He wouldn?t have known what a ?ho? was if it weren?t for rap records.? T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, author of ?Pimps Up, Ho?s Down: Hip Hop?s Hold on Young Black Women? Article, PG 4A Up Next Sunday Design with DNA It's the stuff of murder trials and paternity suits, but DNA is inspiration for art and jewelry, too. You can have a painting made of your DNA or stuff it in a locket. IN MODERN LIFE Wednesday Swimming in calories For the latest Make Over My Meal, we're redesigning breakfast for a Roland Park family with two sons who need enough calories and nutrients to sustain them through their early-morning swimming practices.

Anne Arundel County detectives had cataloged the evidence found at the scene of the rape of a 19-year-old Russian woman working in the United States: her torn bra, her black pants and underwear, her wallet and her visor, which she wore while she worked at a McDonald's. But DNA evidence taken from the victim, prosecutors said, provided the "absolute, objective science" with which to convict Kelroy Williamson, 39, of the 800 block of Jeffrey St. in Baltimore of the 2002 rape of the Russian woman.

A 39-year-old Baltimore man was found guilty yesterday of raping and assaulting a Russian teenager who was living in Anne Arundel County as part of a work exchange program in 2002. An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court jury found Kelroy Williamson of the 800 block of Jeffrey St., who was linked to the crime through DNA evidence, guilty on charges of first-degree rape and assault. He could be sentenced to life in prison. Assistant State's Attorney Kathleen E. Rogers said after the verdict, "I'm thrilled.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- A former Penn State football player from Maryland was convicted yesterday of murder in the stabbing death of a former roommate. LaVon Chisley, 23, a former defensive lineman for the Nittany Lions, was found guilty of first- and third-degree murder. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, as Pennsylvania law requires for a first-degree murder conviction. Chisley showed no emotion when the Centre County jury returned its verdict after about five hours of deliberation.

DNA on display If you're fascinated by forensic science, you'll want to catch the final day of the exhibit Putting DNA to Work, on view at the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. Today is your last chance to explore the hands-on exhibit, which features 15 interactive displays and videos on how the science of DNA is used in everyday life. Visitors can learn how genetically similar humans are to various other life forms, such as chimpanzees, mice, fruit flies and a type of weed.

In the wake of recent revelations in the Duke University "rape" case, even some of Durham District Attorney Michael B. Nifong's supporters have started backing away from him. It was not just that the head of a DNA laboratory testified under oath in December that he and Mr. Nifong both knew back in April that there was no DNA from any of the Duke University lacrosse players found on the body of the stripper who accused them of rape - or even that the...

DNA links city man, 39, to 1984 rape, 1987 killing A man has been linked by DNA evidence to a 1984 rape and a 1987 killing in Baltimore County, police said yesterday. Joseph McInnis Jr., 39, of the 3500 block of Elmley Ave. in Northeast Baltimore has been charged with first-degree rape in the 1984 incident and first-degree murder in the 1987 killing, county police said yesterday. On Aug. 29, the state police forensic lab told county police that DNA retrieved from the two crime scenes matched each other, suggesting that one person was linked to both crimes.

More than 20 years after a young nursing apprentice at a U.S. Army base in Germany was raped and murdered, DNA evidence has led to the arrest of a suspect in Baltimore. Robert L. Brown Jr., 46, of Baltimore, a former U.S. soldier, was linked to the killing through a comparison of trace evidence with DNA from the suspect's daughter in Germany - a country he left soon after the 1984 killing, authorities said. Later, he boasted about raping and strangling the 19-year- old apprentice to a fellow inmate at a Pennsylvania prison where he served time in the mid-1980s, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

A serial rapist who was convicted of one attack and pleaded guilty to three others, each during daytime hours and in different neighborhoods of Baltimore, was sentenced yesterday to 50 years in prison. Yesterday, Erskine Jones, 31, of the 400 block of E. Eager St., admitted raping three girls, ages 14, 16 and 17, from December 2003 to August 2004. DNA evidence linked Jones to the attacks long after they occurred. Circuit Judge Lynn K. Stewart accepted the guilty plea to three counts of rape.

After two months of characterizing the investigation into our 16-year-old daughter Annie's death in Baltimore last November as "the most baffling case," the Baltimore Police Department lost traction entirely, drifted into inactivity, latched onto a flimsy conclusion of suicide, and has now lapsed into a defensive, bureaucratic crouch. On Monday, the police hierarchy wandered into Wonderland. The reason Baltimore police are reluctant to file felony charges against the five individuals who dumped our daughter's body and took our car is "because there was no proof of whether Annie McCann granted the young men permission to take the Volvo."

R&B singer Mario wants a mulligan. The Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling Baltimore native wants people to forget about the sloppy way his last album, "Go," was handled. His record label kept pushing back "Go" until, when it was finally released in late 2007, it had disappointing sales. When Mario started working on his new album, "D.N.A.," he did everything he could to make sure that wouldn't happen again. He took more creative control over how the songs were presented and how the album was handled.

A former prostitute, who was raped, strangled, cut and left for dead in Leakin Park, took the stand Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court and tearfully recounted the details of the 2003 attack by an unlicensed "hack" cabdriver whose DNA is linked to two murders. "I felt his arm go around my neck and he started choking me," the 37-year-old woman said, waving her fists behind her head to show how she tried to fight the man off. "My eyes went up in my head, then everything went black." The Baltimore Sun is withholding the woman's name because she is the victim of a sex crime.

A 32-year-old man whom Baltimore County police accused in February of sexually assaulting two young girls now faces additional charges in the city after police arrested him Thursday morning in connection with the abduction and rape of two teenagers in separate attacks in 2000 and 2004. Authorities said they linked the suspect to the earlier rapes through DNA collected from the man when he was arrested in the county four months ago. He had posted bail pending his August trial, and city police said they rearrested him at his house in Halethorpe.

A 53-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to strangling and beating to death a woman with whom he had exchanged drugs for sex and who had asked him to restore power to her apartment. Anthony L. Thompson of the 4900 block of Arabia Ave. accepted the plea offer after a jury had been selected. Prosecutors Larry Doan and Michelle Martin and Thompson's attorney, Lawrence Greenberg, exchanged plea offers for more than an hour Tuesday, weighing the DNA evidence against faulty witness identification.

The first wave of slayings haunted Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. The killer slipped mostly unseen through the night, preying on older women who lived alone. He raped them and squeezed their necks until they passed out or died. Of the 17 who were killed, he placed pillows or blankets over their faces. The second wave hit a decade later in Claremont, Calif. - five older women raped and strangled, faces again covered. Even with at least 20 survivors, police never connected the two homicide-and-rape rampages nor solved either of them.

DNA evidence that gave Baltimore police a key break in the investigation of the killing of former City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. was obtained under questionable circumstances and might never be heard at the trial, according to court documents and attorneys. At issue is whether detectives acted properly in obtaining Charles Y. McGaney's DNA through a warrant in an unrelated case, in which it is unclear whether he was a suspect. Attorneys not involved in the Harris murder case say the manner in which the sample was obtained appears to fall into uncharted legal territory and could run afoul of a 1978 Supreme Court ruling.

Baltimore's crime lab suffers from inadequate funding, spotty recordkeeping and broken equipment, according to an independent audit of the embattled facility released by the Police Department yesterday. The report, which the Police Department initially refused to release to the public, found that the lab was inadequately staffed, equipment to analyze narcotics had long been out of order, faulty paperwork sometimes made it difficult to establish a chain of custody for evidence, and evidence was stored in rooms that were too warm, which could cause it to degrade.

Md. Racing Commission approves steroid limits horse racing The Maryland Racing Commission gave final approval yesterday to regulations restricting the use of anabolic steroids and banning the use of toe grabs. In addition, the commission granted a request by the Maryland Jockey Club to raise the takeout on two types of wagers, the Pick 3 and the Pick 4, from 14 percent to 25.75 percent. In those wagers, a bettor has to select the winner of three or four consecutive races, respectively.

Baltimore police named a new director yesterday to lead the city's embattled crime lab, filling a position that has been open since the previous director was fired in August amid questions of oversight. Francis A. Chiafari, who began his new position Jan. 13, has worked with the city crime lab since 1994 when his company, Baltimore Rh Typing Laboratory, won a contract to perform DNA tests for Baltimore criminal cases. He also has served as a technical adviser for the Police Department.