A Hamilton County judge will decide whether software that analyzes DNA can be used in the trial of a suspect accused of killing a man in his Over-the-Rhine home.
Prosecutors are seeking to have the analysis admitted in the trial of Mordecia Black who faces charges including aggravated murder in the June 2025 fatal stabbing of Patrick Heringer, owner of Findlay Movement gym.
According to information presented in court, the software analysis showed that Black’s DNA was found on a knife handle and an interior door handle at Heringer’s home.
But those results came only after detectives submitted evidence to a company that uses probabilistic genotyping software to interpret DNA evidence. An initial analysis conducted by the county crime lab yielded
inconclusive results regarding the evidence, which documents say showed multiple DNA profiles.
The software, called TrueAllele, has never been admitted in a case in Hamilton County, although it has been admitted in Cuyahoga County as well as other courts across the country.
Prosecutors said it has been used in more than 50 cases in both state and federal courts.
Common Pleas Judge Robert Winkler heard arguments about the issue over two days. Black’s attorneys have asked Winkler to block prosecutors from introducing it at trial.
Software's reliability questioned
One of Black’s attorneys, Christopher Collman, said on the hearing’s second day, Sept. 16, that the software has not been evaluated sufficiently. He pointed to a letter submitted to a forensics journal by a professional organization for computer scientists. The letter said there is not enough publicly available data for an independent assessment of the reliability of probabilistic genotyping software.
The software, from Pittsburgh-based Cybergenetics Corp, analyzes DNA evidence, and according to the company, can identify DNA profiles when more than one person’s DNA is present.
Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Norbert Wessels said the software has been shown to be reliable and has been subjected to more than 40 validation studies.
“TruAllele software has been widely accepted. It has been tested. It has been published in peer-reviewed studies” and should be submitted to a jury, he said.
Trial expected in 2027
Prosecutors say Black entered Heringer’s East McMicken Avenue home in the early morning of June 4, 2025, and after Heringer confronted him, Black fatally stabbed him.
The trial, initially scheduled to begin this month, is now expected to take place in 2027. No date has been set.
Winkler took the matter under advisement on Sept. 16. He did not say when he expects to make a ruling.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: DNA may connect man to gym owner's stabbing. Will a jury hear about it?
