Judge denies bid by accused killer of Vanessa Marcotte to get DNA evidence tossed

A superior court Judge in Worcester has denied a request by the accused killer of Vanessa Marcotte to have critical DNA evidence tossed from the murder case.

It was August of 2016 when Marcotte was jogging near her mother’s Princeton home when she was attacked, sexually assaulted and killed.

Nine months later, Angelo Colon-Ortiz was arrested and charged in the 27-year-old’s murder.

Colon-Ortiz claimed in June, 2021 that there was a Spanish language translation barrier and that he didn’t give police his consent to take his DNA in 2017.

While the judge did agree on Tuesday that there was some errors in a consent form, “there is no evidence in this record that Colon-Ortiz did not understand the form. And despite the above concerns, the information Colon-Ortiz needed to know was that police were asking him to consent to giving a sample of DNA for the investigation of the death of Ms. Marcotte,” said Judge Janet Kenton-Walker in her ruling.

“Considering the totality of the circumstances in this case, the consent form, together with the interview with the police, conveyed that information. The other information in the form, while important and valuable, did not defeat Colon-Ortiz’s free and voluntary decision to consent to providing a DNA sample,” said the judge.

A trial date in this murder case has not been set, according to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office.

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