A D.C. murder case set for trial this week was suddenly dismissed last Friday as prosecutors told the family they lost faith in DNA evidence linking a suspect to the 2010 killing of a father at a Fourth of July barbecue.
Prosecutors had defended the evidence in motion after motion for five and a half years while the suspect remained locked up in D.C.’s jail. It was solid evidence until it wasn’t.
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WATCH HERELast Thursday at D.C. Superior Court, a jury was seated and the daughters of John Pernell were told opening statements would be held in a case that has wound its way through the court for years.
The sisters thought they would finally get justice – until they got a surprise call from the prosecutor.
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SIGN UP “He said that there was some issues with the evidence they had and they were dismissing the case,” Yolanda Pernell-Voglezon said.
Just like that, the justice Pernell-Voglezon and Ayana Pernell thought was nearly in their grasp was suddenly snatched away.
“Devastated,” Pernell-Voglezon said. “It took me a minute to peel myself off of the floor.”
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“I even dropped to my knees,” Pernell said. “Just the initial shock of like, am I hearing what I am hearing, and you go back in your mind and you think all this time has passed.”
The time that’s passed? It's been nearly 15 years. News4 spoke with the sisters first back in 2011.
John Pernell, a retired protective service officer, was shot and killed during a robbery as he and his friends were setting up their grills for an annual Fourth of July barbecue. At the time, neighbors and Pernell's daughters told News4 that the man, sometimes called "The Mayor," acted heroically.
Pernell fought with one of the suspects and during the autopsy, police found DNA under his fingernails. It took some time, but police say they connected that DNA to Kavon Young.
In a court filing dated December 5, 2023, prosecutors told the defense the probability the DNA belonged to someone other than Young was one in 830 million in the caucasian population, one in 3.4 billion in the U.S. African American population and one in 620 million in the U.S. Hispanic population. Young is Black.
But on Friday, the sisters were told the government could no longer rely on those calculations.
“We are just as baffled and shocked and disappointed and devastated and we don’t know how this happened,” Pernell-Voglezon said.
The U.S. Attorney’s office has not responded to four requests for comment over the last four days.
And remains of the DNA — called extracts — that were tested in a private lab have been lost.
“How can that happen?” Pernell said. “This is a situation of a murder case, and you have the expectation that evidence will be maintained, that the chain of evidence will be secure and maintained with the utmost protocols.”
The sisters feel they need a miracle for the case to be refiled. They don’t know who to blame.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Pernell-Voglezon said.
“Someone has to be held accountable, someone,” Pernell said. “The question is who.”
News4 has reached out to the private DNA lab for comment and has not heard back.
Young is still incarcerated at the D.C. Jail. It's unclear why. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
