Catching The Killers: DNA Revolution
World, 10pm
This is the first part of a fascinating, five-part series illustrating the ground-breaking new techniques that have revolutionised the detection of crime in the 20th century.
Tonight we look at DNA testing - invented by a British scientist 17 years ago - which has revolutionised the work of the police. Criminals who thought they had got away with it now face the long arm of DNA technology. DNA testing has helped to track down serial killers, while freeing scores of innocent people on death row in the United States - putting their criminal justice system in the spotlight. From its first successful application in a British murder case to the hunt for one of Italy's most prolific serial killers, this programme charts the rise of this extraordinary new technology.
Filmed exclusively during his fight for freedom, this episode centres around the amazing case of Chris Ochoa (above, centre with his defence team) who was convicted of the rape and murder of Nancy DePriest in a Pizza Hut in Austin, Texas, in 1988. When another man, Achim Joseph Marino, confessed to the crime in 1996, and DNA testing was used to back up his guilt, Ochoa was finally exonerated 13 years after his conviction. Richard Danziger, Ochoa's co-accused, is awaiting release but a severe beating from a fellow inmate, who mistook him for someone else, has left him with brain damage and he is currently still interned in the Skyview psychiatric prison in Rusk, Texas.
NYPD Blue
Pearl, 12.55am