Moochie: Who Killed Jill Halliburton? (Canal +): the DNA analysis scandal

Over the past 20 years, science has made remarkable progress in DNA analysis. It is now possible to find hair, blood, genetic fingerprints and other microparticles at a crime scene and use them to trace a suspect. A process non-existent in the 80s and in its infancy in the 90s. What if we told you that, despite the dazzling progress made in this technology, it still has flaws? Wednesday January 25, 2023 at 9:09 p.m., Canal + broadcasts Moochie: who killed Jill Halliburton? In this documentary, we relive the story of Dayonte Resiles, aka Moochie, a 19-year-old African American boy charged with murder. His alleged victim, Jill Halliburton Su, was found stabbed in her Florida residence. These are DNA traces, found on a knife left on the porch and on an abandoned belt in the entrance, which will put the investigators on the track of Moochie.

Moochie: doomed by DNA traces

On June 29, 2016, the New Broward Palm Beach Times looks back on the traces that led to the murder of a young man who was, until then, a burglar. Dayonte Resiles has been in prison for two years and continues to claim his innocence. A clamor that sows doubt, and for good reason: no surveillance camera reported the presence of Moochie at the crime scene. Apart from these tiny DNA traces, nothing places him in the bathroom where Jill Halliburton Su was found tied up and half-naked. Besides, no trace of him was found on the murder weapon either. The young man claims not to know how his DNA could have been found on the two objects present in the Su’s home. What if he had ended up there by accident? In any case, this is what the defense thinks, as well as those close to Dayonte Resiles who, themselves, believe that he was trapped.

A whistleblower cries foul

A year into his incarceration, Moochie received unexpected help from a whistleblower. “Tiffany Roy, a former lab analyst who now works as a freelance forensic scientist, sounded the alarm. She reported the Broward County Sheriff’s Office crime lab after discovering that some techs were falsely reporting that some DNA evidence could have been successfully analyzed”, explains the American daily. In other words, they would have confirmed matches by using, for example, samples so small that they should not even have passed under the microscope. The possibility of an accidental transfer to the scene of the crime has also been raised. At the time, “the lab was on the verge of losing its accreditation and 2,000 cases had to be reopened because it had played a role in their resolution”.

“A long history of unethical and fallacious practices”

Unfortunately for Dayonte Resiles, although his charges are based solely on this questionable index, it was enough to get him sentenced to life in prison in 2022. A petition entitled “The dangers of DNA evidence, the Dayonte Resiles saga continues” was launched immediately. Based on other cases of wrongful imprisonment following analytical errors, she asks for Moochie’s release. “We ask for your help in exonerating Dayonte Resiles and demand that the appropriate authorities investigate and punish corruption within the ranks of Broward Police. Dayonte is innocent and we intend to prove it to the world”can we read. “The DNA evidence linking him to the crime was analyzed by the Broward Police Laboratory. However, the latter has a long history of unethical and misleading practices”, adds the petition. However, no action has yet been taken to verify these accusations made by Moochie’s family and supporters. He therefore remains in prison, eight years after the start of this case which started on September 8, 2014.