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| After DNA Mix-Up, Fla. Man Is Re-Charged In Murder |
| By WPLG |
| Published: 08/05/2003 |
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It looked like a DNA mix-up might help a man avoid a murder charge, but now he has been arrested again. Kevin Hoffman was accused, along with Geoffrey Kennedy, of killing Michael Sortal, 47, of Broward County in March 2001. The charges against Hoffman were dropped June 23 because DNA evidence that police believed connected him to the murder was tainted while at a crime lab and could not be used in the case. Kennedy was convicted of the murder and is serving a life sentence in prison. Hoffman was re-arrested by Fort Lauderdale police July 29. He is re-charged with Sortal's murder. Police say three things helped rebuild their case: detectives submitted different evidence gathered from the crime scene; after Hoffman walked out of jail six witnesses came forward, some of them jail inmates, who said Hoffman implicated himself in the murder; and Kennedy, the co-defendant in the murder, has changed his mind and has agreed to testify against Hoffman. Hoffman commented on his latest arrest, saying he never confessed to the crime while behind bars and that he is not guilty and was never at the scene of the crime. Detectives said he was, and this time the evidence from the crime scene was submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab, not the Broward Sheriff's Office lab where the original DNA evidence was contaminated. Hoffman is currently under house arrest for severely beating a man. He was convicted June 25 of the attempted murder of 42-year-old Timothy Thorn in March 2001, just two weeks before Sortal was killed. |
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