SKOWHEGAN (AP) — An analyst for the state says DNA samples taken from a woman who was murdered in 1980 match those of the man charged with killing her, Jay Mercier.
The 57-year-old Mercier of Industry is on trial in Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan in the murder of 20-year-old Rita St. Peter. Prosecutors say Mercier sexually assaulted, then killed St. Peter.
The Central Maine Morning Sentinel says Kathy MacMillan, a forensic DNA analyst with the state police crime lab, testified Monday about the DNA samples. MacMillan told the jury that the possibility of samples taken from St. Peter’s body and from a swab sample from Mercier’s mouth taken in 2005 not belonging to Mercier is one in a trillion.
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