For those who commented that the recent “updating” of DNA population mixture statistics would be merely a mini-blip in its potential effect on criminal cases, this Texas state-wide revisit of DNA aided convictions should be a downer.

Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady, right, and Matthew Shawhan, an assistant district attorney for the county, show an image of a screwdriver believed to have been used by German Perez-Vasquez in a homicide. DNA analysis on the screwdriver initially showed there was a 1 in 290 million chance that a different person of a similar ethnic background to the defendant had touched it. The new protocol, released back in January 2010 but implemented unevenly across the country, found a 1 in 38 chance.

Dallas News (open access)