In 1989, the West Virginia high court ruled in favor of admitting DNA evidence. In 1984, geneticis Sir Alec Jeffreys, and technician Vicky Wilson at the University of Leicester in England discovered minisatellites leading to the development of genetic fingerprinting.

In 1987, Colin Pitchfork was convicted of murdering two girls in 1983 and 1986 in Narborough, Leicestershire, England after his DNA samples matched semen samples taken from the two dead girls. Jeffreys’ work in this case convicted the killer, but also exonerated Richard Buckland, a suspect who otherwise might have spent his life in prison.