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Over a 10-day period in December 2006, five women were found murdered near the town of Ipswich, about 80 miles north-east of London, England. The women, Gemma Adams, 25; Tania Nicol, 19; Anneli Alderton, 24; Paula Clennell 24; and Annette Nicholls, 29; all worked as prostitutes in Ipswich.

Whenever prostitutes in England are killed, images of Jack The Ripper come to mind. But while the Ripper ripped his victims, it seems whoever killed the Ipswich five was content merely to strangle. All were found naked. Two were posed in a “crucifix” shape. Some of the victims were found in water. Some had been missing for weeks before being discovered.

The accused in the case is 49 year-old forklift driver and resident of Ipswich, Steve Wright. Wright, who lived in a flat with his girlfriend in the red-light district where the women worked, admits having sex with four of the victims — which would explain why his DNA was found on their bodies — and having met with the fifth, but denies murdering any of them.

Wright’s trial is expected to last into February.

Tim Masters was freed today after spending nine years in prison when DNA evidence was found that pointed to other suspects in the murder of Peggy Hettrick. Masters was 15 at the time Hettrick’s mutilated body was found in a field in Fort Collins, Colorado, February 1987. He was jailed in 1998 and convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1999.

But possible misconduct by police and prosecutors meant evidence that could have exonerated Masters was withheld from his defense attorneys. Now, that evidence, along with DNA that points to three other possible suspects, has moved the court to vacate the conviction. That doesn’t mean Masters has been declared not guilty, but it does get him out of prison, freed on his own recognizance, and back with his family. While it’s possible the courts could order a new trial, District Attorney Larry Abrahamson says it may be unnecessary to try Masters again and that he’ll decide as quickly as possible whether all charges against Masters will be dismissed.

In a television interview, Masters said he was convicted because of some very big egos. One of his lawyers was more blunt; she said that Masters was framed, plain and simple.

The question remains, if Masters didn’t kill and mutilate Hettrick, who did? And what has that person been doing for the past twenty one years?

You may think the maxim “innocent until proven guilty” would mean we only need evidence to prove an accused committed a crime. We shouldn’t have to prove he didn’t. Unfortunately, for an accused to get a fair trial, that isn’t true. Take the case of Tim Masters.

In February 1987, Peggy Hettrick was found dead in a field in Fort Collins, Colorado. She had been stabbed and sexually mutilated. Twelve years later, Tim Masters was convicted for the murder and sentenced to life in prison.

The evidence pointing to his guilt? Not much. There was no direct physical evidence, only a few violent doodles Masters had drawn as a fifteen year-old, after he admittedly walked past and saw Hettrick’s body on his way to school. That should not have been enough to convict him, and it probably wouldn’t have been when weighed against the evidence pointing to his innocence:

* Comments from a plastic surgeon to a Fort Collins police detective, Marsha Reed, that mutilation to Hettrick’s body — the removal of one nipple and much of her genitals — appeared surgical in nature and that even he would have had difficulty making those cuts.

* An FBI profiler’s conclusion that Masters’ violent sketches did not reveal a motive to kill Hettrick.

* A week-long surveillance effort of Masters in 1988 after police lied to him, telling him they were getting close to making an arrest in the case, that showed no behavior out of the ordinary.

Perhaps most significant of all is the fact that prosecutors had — or should have had — a far more likely suspect, a surgeon who lived right across the street from where Hettrick’s body was found, Dr. Richard Hammond. Did the prosecutors not know about Hammond? On the contrary, it seems they not only knew of him, but they knew him personally. Evidence has surfaced that the original prosecutors in the case had business, social, and religious connections with Hammond.

Hammond committed suicide in 1995 when he was charged with sex-exploitation for using a hidden camera to photograph the breasts and genitals of female visitors to his home. Yet, Hammond was never investigated in connection with Hettrick’s murder.

So there was little or no evidence pointing to Masters’ guilt, and plenty of evidence pointing to his innocence. So why was Masters convicted? Because the latter was never presented at his initial trial, nor at either of his two appeals. It appears that police and prosecutors purposely hid the evidence they didn’t like. Now, finally, this evidence has come to light and next week hearings will resume that may lead to a new trial.

Both the defense and the prosecution have called for an appeal in the conviction of a man who may be Canada’s worst serial killer, Robert Pickton.

Defense attorneys for Pickton claim Justice James Williams made several errors during the trial, including not asking the jury to clarify a question they posed part way through deliberations, giving them a confusing answer to their question, and allowing the jury to hear statements Pickton made to police.

Prosecutors argue that Justice Williams erred in severing the twenty-six charges against Pickton into two separate trials, the one just concluded covering six of those charges, and one still to be held covering the remaining twenty. They also insist essential evidence was kept from the jury, and that Justice Williams’ instructions to the jury should have made it clear that dismembering and disposing of the victims was a clear indication of planning and deliberation, and that Pickton was therefore guilty of first-degree murder, not second-degree as the jury concluded.

The prosecution made sure to launch their appeal first. If they’re successful, Pickton could be re-tried on all twenty-six charges of first-degree murder. If the defense appeal had been filed first, it’s possible those six convictions for second-degree murder already handed down might not have been elevated to first-degree.

In any case, Pickton’s days in court are far from over.

On August 10, in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, a woman was in her home when she saw a light go on in her sleeping toddler’s bedroom. She went in to investigate and found a man trying to take money from the child’s piggy bank. The man fled with $20. (The piggy was shaken but neither the piggy, the child, nor the mother was injured.)

The thief had entered the home through a window screen and, in the process, left behind a few drops of blood. Police used DNA testing on the blood samples to link Ryan Mueller, 30, to the crime. If convicted, Mueller faces up to nine years in prison for felony burglary.

At the same time, Thomas Arthur is still on death row in Alabama and Governor Bob Riley still refuses to grant a request for DNA testing in the case, testing that could prove Thomas is innocent.

So, DNA testing can be used in investigating theft from a piggy bank, but not in possibly saving a man’s life. How does this make sense?