The unsolved murder of 16-year-old Malin Lindström has turned into a legal hideout.
An 18-year-old man was convicted in the district court for the murder of Malin but was later acquitted in the court of appeal because the evidence was strong enough.
After the trial, the man's DNA profile was destroyed in line with the rules that existed at the time.
24 years after the murder, a national technical team managed to secure a new DNA profile through a sperm stain on a shirt that Malin Lindström was wearing at the time of the murder.
But just over a month ago, the Supreme Court said no to the chief prosecutor's request to test the former suspect again.
The court concluded that there was no clear legal support for taking such a measure against a previously acquitted person.
In addition, the limitation period has expired because the suspect was under 21 years of age and then the Supreme Court must decide whether in this case it is possible to introduce a limitation period so that the released person can be prosecuted.
Chief Prosecutor Mats Svensson, who is handling the case, makes the following comment in a press release:
- When the Court of Appeal acquitted the accused person of the murder in 1998, it was established that there was so-called structural evidence, but that there was no direct evidence linking the person to the crime. DNA had been secured from a probable perpetrator on the remains of the girl, but the amount of DNA was so small that with the analysis methods of the time it was not possible to obtain a searchable DNA profile. Now such a DNA profile has been produced and it has turned out that it was the acquitted person who deposited the DNA on the victim. In the opinion of the public prosecutor, it is probable that the Court of Appeal would have convicted the person of murder if the new evidence had been presented during the trial.