Dog DNA loses in appeals court

SEATTLE -- Animal DNA cannot be presented as evidence in the same way as human DNA, the Washington state Court of Appeals has ruled in a murder case involving DNA from a pet dog.

Despite that finding, the three-judge panel upheld the murder convictions of two men and ruled that one should be resentenced to a longer prison term.

The case that resulted in the convictions of Kenneth John "Sable Claus" Leuluaialii and George Tuilefano, both now 29, was believed to be the first in the country involving dog DNA.

They were convicted in the death of Raquel Rivera, 20, and Jay Johnson, 22, who were shot to death along with their dog, Chief, a 1-year-old pit bull-Labrador mix, in a gritty south end neighborhood Dec. 9, 1996.

During the trial in King County Superior Court in 1998, prosecutors presented DNA evidence indicating bloodstains on two jackets and a pair of pants linked to Leuluaialii and Tuilefano were from Chief.

There was enough other evidence to convict the pair, and Judge Richard A. Jones should have barred testimony attempting to link the bloodstains to the dog because the science of animal DNA is not as advanced or reliable as that of human DNA, the appellate panel ruled.

The appeals court also found Tuilefano was not entitled to an exceptionally light sentence of 26 years in prison under state standards and ordered that he be resentenced.

The ruling upheld Leuluaialii's sentence of two life terms without parole.