ERROR FREES SLAYING SUSPECT
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
FORT LAUDERDALE -- The State Attorney's Office has dropped murder charges against a 27-year-old man because of mishandled DNA evidence crucial to the case.
Kevin Hoffman had been charged in the beating and strangling death of Michael Sortal, a 47-year-old storage and mini-warehouse manager found dead in his Fort Lauderdale apartment in March 2001.
But genetic material from the Broward County crime scene was mixed with a DNA sample taken from a Pembroke Pines rape, and the evidence against Hoffman could not be salvaged. The murder charges were dropped Monday.
Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Leljedal said a lab analyst made the mistake.
"We discovered it when we were reviewing the results last month while preparing for trial," he said, calling it "human error" and an isolated incident.
Sortal was found naked with a plastic bag over his head and a belt around his neck.