ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 30, 1995                   TAG: 9501310059
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DINWIDDIE                                 LENGTH: Medium


NEW DNA TEST HELPS SOLVE CASE

In November 1993, David M. Dalton waived his right to a speedy trial on charges of beating his former girlfriend to death. Nearly a year later, a new DNA test was approved for use in criminal prosecutions in Virginia.

Dalton's lawyer, David E. Boone, said the delay and the development of the new technology made the difference between a conviction and an acquittal.

Dalton, 22, of Dinwiddie, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and forcible sodomy in the 1993 death of Sementa Tuttle, 20, of Hopewell. He was scheduled to be tried by a jury last week on charges of capital murder and forcible sodomy.

Dalton, who will be sentenced Feb. 27, agreed to a plea bargain when he realized there was sufficient evidence for a jury to convict him, Boone said.

The turning point came in October, when Polymarker DNA testing was approved for use in state criminal cases. The Polymarker system is an improvement on DNA testing that allows forensic scientists to use much smaller samples of body fluids than previously required to determine whether a suspect could have committed a crime. It enables forensic scientists to identify possible suspects more accurately.

With the new method, ``there was a strong likelihood that he would have received the death penalty based on the nature of the homicide. It was a very violent murder,'' Boone said.

Tuttle's battered body was found in her car April 5, 1993. The car was near railroad tracks less than a mile from Dalton's home. She had been beaten with a metal pipelike object and with fists.

Tuttle and Dalton had dated for about a year, but had broken off the relationship.

A drop of blood on Dalton's shoelace and seminal fluid found on Tuttle were tested with the new form of DNA and, combined with other evidence, helped solve the case.



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