NCJ Number
145584
Journal
Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1993) Pages: 81-85
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
A case study is presented in which forensic DNA typing was used to determine the paternity for a pregnancy that may have resulted from sexual assault.
Abstract
A 34-year-old woman was sexually assaulted by a male unrelated to the victim or her husband. Subsequently, the victim learned that she was pregnant. She had consensual sexual relations with her husband in the weeks preceding and following the assault, but could not exclude the possibility that the pregnancy resulted from the sexual assault. The accused individual refused to provide a blood sample. To resolve the issue of paternity, the DNA profiles of the victim and her husband were compared to that of a chorionic villus sample taken by biopsy at approximately 11 weeks of fetal gestation. The results were consistent with the victim's husband being the biological father of the fetus; the probability of his paternity was 99.88 percent. Table, photograph, and 15 references (Author abstract modified)