Days before a murder trial in Washington, D.C., prosecutors withdrew charges against Kavon Young due to concerns about the reliability of DNA evidence linking him to the 2010 murder of John Pernell, a retired protective service officer. Pernell was shot during a July Fourth barbecue when four men attempted to rob him. Initially, the investigation stalled until a witness in 2019 identified Young, prompting a DNA analysis that matched Young’s profile to evidence found under Pernell’s fingernails, suggesting a probability of one in 3.4 billion that it was not his.
However, just two days before the trial was set to start, prosecutors revealed that this DNA evidence was now considered a mismatch. Neither the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the defense team, nor Bode Technology Group, the lab that conducted the initial testing, provided a clear explanation for the sudden change. Pernell’s daughters, Yolanda Pernell-Vogelson and Ayana Pernell, expressed their outrage and confusion. They received a call from the prosecutor informing them of the error but have not been offered satisfactory explanations since then.
Compounding the issue, Bode Technology lost the DNA evidence, preventing any possibility of retesting. A judge indicated that jurors would be informed about the negligence surrounding the lost evidence. Young, who had been in custody for over five years, was released in April. In response to the situation, Washington’s Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Lindsey Appiah, extended condolences to Pernell’s family and indicated that an investigation into the case was underway to seek additional redress. The Pernell family has reached out to local lawmakers to push for accountability regarding the mishandling of evidence.
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