On Jul. 9, 2021, a federal jury convicted a timber thief who authorities said started a large forest fire in Washington state, a case that prosecutors said marked the first time tree DNA had been introduced in a federal trial.

The jury deliberated for about seven hours before convicting Justin Andrew Wilke, 39, of conspiracy, theft of public property, depredation of public property, and trafficking and attempted trafficking in unlawfully harvested timber, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Western Washington said in a news release.

The wood was sold to a mill in the city of Tumwater had been harvested legally, but a research geneticist for the U.S. Forest Service testified that the wood sold genetically matched the remains of three poached trees.