BERKELEY, Calif. — GeneLab scientist Jack McGee gets to take his job satisfaction in a way the rest of us can only dream of: in the grateful eyes of those he's saved from years in prison.
That's because GeneLab has created a revolutionary new method of analyzing fragments of DNA to free those who have been accused of crimes they didn't commit.
In just its first three months, Mr. McGee's company has freed dozens of incarcerated innocents, and brought many more fugitives in from years (and in some cases decades) on the run from the law.
In what is perhaps the company's most high-profile case, GeneLab recently exonerated four former army officers who were being held on charges that they had robbed the Bank of Hanoi. The men, who had spent nearly 20 years on the lam, were arrested and jailed in 1992.
"Ten years in the stockade was terrible," said former Lt. Templeton Peck, one of the freed men. "And it's tougher if you're a pretty boy, like me."
For Peck, the release was a bittersweet one. He is the only member of his team to be released to freedom. Team leader Col. John Smith died in the stockade; Sgt. Bosco Baracus suffered a stroke during the flight to prison and passed away two years later; and Capt. H.M. Murdock was driven insane during the prison stay, and was released to a local mental institution for ongoing care.
A more happy success story is that of Dr. Richard Kimble, who was accused of killing his wife. GeneLab's technology proved that Kimble did not commit the crime, and now the prominent surgeon has emerged from hiding with a vow to track down the real killer.
For those pursuing Dr. David Banner, the GeneLab technology had the reverse effect: confirmation that Banner is responsible for a series of violent incidents across numerous states for nearly a dozen years. Despite repeated reports that the true perpetrator was not in fact the small, caucasian Dr. Banner, but a burly man of indeterminate race, the GeneLab results clearly point to the nuclear scientist's guilt.
And McGee's company isn't stopping with current cases. Historical researchers have embraced the technology. GeneLab was able to conclusively prove that 19th century adventurer Jason McCord, a West Point graduate branded as a coward and scorned by his peers, was in fact not cowardly at all, but a skilled engineer and mapmaker.
"The sky's the limit, honestly," says McGee, a man who's proud that he can make money while also changing people's lives.
"This technology will revolutionize the most fascinating sphere of police work -- the world of forensic medicine," said retired Los Angeles County Coroner R. Quincy. "It would have made exhuming bodies a much more fruitful and exact science."
