PUBLISHER'S NOTE: ANOTHER CANDIDATE FOR "LETTER OF THE YEAR.' "Bridgette Jensen, chief assistant state attorney for Florida's First Judicial Circuit, said after learning about what has been transpiring in Bermuda she began notifying local attorneys and agencies about Zuleger and Trinity DNA Solutions. A letter dated Oct. 25 was sent out to several parties. It said: "Candy Zuleger and/or Trinity DNA Solutions was listed as a witness in your case. The office of the State Attorney recently discovered Ms. Zuleger’s DNA analysis and testimony has been called into question by the Government of Bermuda," it said. "Documents are available upon request and will be provided via email."
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STORY: "Pensacola DNA expert’s ‘bad science’ calls decade of cases into question," by Reporter Tom McLaughlan published by The Pensacola News Journal, on December 15, 2025. (Award winning investigative reporter and 2017 Gatehouse Media News writer of the Year.)
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- KEY POINTS: Between 2004 and 2016, Candy Zuleger operated Trinity DNA Solutions, reportedly the first private DNA testing laboratory in Florida, from an office tucked away in an East Milton industrial park.
- Bermuda Police confirmed Zuleger was paid nearly $3 million for services exposed as utilizing science "not allowed in any reputable and accredited forensic DNA laboratory."
- Bridgette Jensen, an assistant state attorney for Florida's First Judicial Circuit, said she has begun notifying local attorneys and agencies about Zuleger and Trinity DNA Solutions
A series of revelations emanating from the British territory of Bermuda regarding "bad science" attributed to a woman who runs a DNA evidence consultation company with ties to Pensacola and Santa Rosa County has caught the attention of local authorities.
Between 2004 and 2016, Candy Zuleger operated Trinity DNA Solutions, reportedly the first private DNA testing laboratory in Florida, from an office tucked away in an East Milton industrial park. Soon after opening her business she contracted to work with the Bermuda Police Service where she was estimated to have participated in about 450 of the agency's cases, appearing for many as a witness for the prosecution.
Zuleger, who Bermuda Police confirmed had been paid nearly $3 million for a decade worth of her services, has been exposed for having utilized science "not allowed in any reputable and accredited forensic DNA laboratory."
A Bermudan paper, the Royal Gazette, has been following the Zuleger story relentlessly, and documented the concerns around Zuleger's testimony. The reporting is ongoing, with articles running as recently as Dec. 2 of this year.
The News Journal's efforts to reach Zuleger for this article were unsuccessful.
The State Attorney's Office for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida - which counties hold jurisdiction in Escambiam Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties - has alerted local agencies annd attorneys who may have relied on Zuleger's analysis of the concerns.
The State Attorney's Office for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida— which holds jurisdiction in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties—has alerted local agencies and attorneys who may have relied on Zuleger's analysis of the concerns.
The flaws in her methodology became glaringly public in 2024 when Julian Washington, a man sentenced to life for murder and attempted murder,
was set free due to inaccurate evidence provided by Zuleger at his trial.
The Death Penalty Project helped free Washington after 10 years in prison largely due to its debunking of DNA evidence provided by Zuleger. In May of 2024, the group issued a news release lauding its investigator's efforts.
An appeal originally scheduled for June of 2024 was abruptly halted after lawyers representing the Bermudan government conceded that forensic evidence presented at Julian’s original trial "was flawed and could not be relied upon," the Death Penalty Project said.
The prosecution’s case had relied upon forensics including DNA on bullet casings, the release said, and at trial prosecutors relied on Zuleger's testimony that there was a 1 in 46 million chance that Washington was not a possible contributor to the DNA found on the casings.
"This was inaccurate and should not have been placed before the jury," the news release said. "We sought to obtain fresh evidence to challenge the forensic evidence at trial, on the basis that it was flawed, imbalanced and wrongly implicated (Washington)."
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the highest court in Bermuda, granted permission for Washington to appeal his conviction and he was able to obtain his release.
After Washington was ordered released, Bermuda's director of public prosecution reviewed 273 other cases analyzed by Trinity DNA Solutions. The Royal Gazette reported the prosecutor had found two more instances where convictions were obtained with evidence that could have been "tainted" by Zuleger's faulty analysis.
The Death Penalty Project said in its news release that the Washington case could have wide repercussions, and could lead to inquiries into "possible widespread miscarriages of justice" in the United States and elsewhere.
Zuleger impact on Northwest Florida
Bridgette Jensen, chief assistant state attorney for Florida's First Judicial Circuit, said after learning about what has been transpiring in Bermuda she began notifying local attorneys and agencies about Zuleger and Trinity DNA Solutions.
A letter dated Oct. 25 was sent out to several parties. It said: "Candy Zuleger and/or Trinity DNA Solutions was listed as a witness in your case. The office of the State Attorney recently discovered Ms. Zuleger’s DNA analysis and testimony has been called into question by the Government of Bermuda," it said. "Documents are available upon request and will be provided via email."
The memo noted that the information being provided by the State Attorney's Office was done to comply with Brady/Giglio.
State Attorney's Offices across Florida are required to maintain what is commonly known as the Brady List or Brady/Giglio list. It holds the names of, primarily, law enforcement officers who have proven dishonest and/or untrustworthy. This is done to ensure that all involved in a legal proceeding can guide themselves accordingly to ensure the integrity of a judicial proceeding.
Candy Zuleger and the 'Blue Moon' murders
Zuleger has over the years testified in high profile cases in Florida. The most familiar to residents of Escambia or Santa Rosa counties could be the trial of Donald Hartung, a homicide that became known as the "blue moon" case after Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, incorrectly as it turned out, stated the slayings may have been "ritualistic" and linked to the rising of a blue moon.
Hartung was tried and convicted in early 2020 for the 2015 killings of his mother, 77-year-old Voncile Smith, and his two half-brothers, Richard Thomas Smith, 47, and John William Smith, 49, at their home.
Zuleger was called as a witness by defense attorney Michael Griffith. Her testimony was limited to a discussion of analysis done in her office to confirm the well established theory of transfer DNA.
Prosecutors questioned the wisdom of allowing an expert witness being called to give "opinion testimony" on the results of an "unvalidated test," but Circuit Judge Tom Dannheisser, who presided over the case, allowed Zuleger's brief testimony to stand.
Dannheisser, now the county attorney for Santa Rosa County, said DNA evidence played a very small role in the Hartung trial. Prosecuting attorneys elicited testimony from Zuleger that her lab had been paid $25,000 for its work with the defense team.
Jensen, who sent out the notifications of the Bermudan findings implicating Zuleger, served as lead prosecutor in the Hartung case. Griffith did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Zuleger served as a defense witness in 2009 in a high-profile Bay County murder in which Wesley Williams was ultimately convicted of killing a mother and her three young sons between the ages of 3 years and 3 weeks old.
Prosecutors were able to obtain a conviction despite Zuleger's testimony that Williams' DNA didn't match anything found on tape used to suffocate the children.
Ties to Pensacola
Zuleger received a master's degree from the University of West Florida and spent eight years as a crime lab analyst for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
When she founded Trinity DNA Solutions in 2003 and opened for business in 2004, Zuleger's laboratory was one of just a handful nationwide, and a publication called 850 Business Magazine wrote a profile on the private DNA lab in 2010 titled "Shedding Light on Invisible Evidence."
The magazine stated that in 2010, Zuleger was working with agencies in Arizona, Louisiana and Bermuda and "testifies regularly as an expert witness at criminal trials, brought in to explain what DNA evidence was found at the scene and how it relates to the case."
In 2018, according to the Royal Gazette, Trinity DNA Solutions surrendered an accreditation it held at that time with the American National Standards Institute.
Trinity DNA Solutions filed its last annual report in 2021 and the company dissolved in September of 2022, according to the Florida Division of Corporations.
A new limited liability corporation, Trinity DNA, was reinstated with Candy Zuleger as president in February of 2023. It remains listed as an active company on Florida's Division of Corporations website.
In her most recent business filings, Zuleger lists her business's mailing address as one she has used for years, the Pensacola post office at 7150 Tippen Ave. Her LinkedIn page also lists her address as in Pensacola.
Zuleger's present job description state's she can "provide consulting services to law enforcement and attorneys on previously worked forensic DNA cases." She also offers to "provide training to attorneys and questions for cross exam and actual testimony when needed.""
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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