Opinion ID: 1296847
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: frye hearing experts

Text: At the Frye hearing in this case, six expert witnesses and the forensic scientist who conducted the PCR tests testified. There was testimony that the DNA PCR technique is generally accepted as accurate and reliable by the scientific community. As the majority points out, there were four highly qualified scientists who testified that PCR was reliable and generally accepted for use in the forensic setting. However, there was also testimony from three highly qualified scientists that PCR is not yet generally accepted in the scientific community for use on crime scene evidence. Dr. John Gerdes, Ph.D., the DNA analysis director at Immunological Associates of Denver, testified that the Cetus DQ alpha system (PCR test for forensic use) is controversial and is not accepted in the scientific community. Report of Proceedings, at 1332. He also testified there were few publications on that issue. Report of Proceedings, at 1332. While I agree with the majority that there are thousands of articles about PCR DNA, the vast majority of them concern applications in the research and clinical and medical settings and not the transfer of the technology to the forensic laboratory for identity testing on crime scene samples. Dr. Gerdes also testified that it was too early for the Cetus kit to produce reasonable results in a forensic setting because of the danger of typing a contaminant, the low power of discrimination, and the lack of independent validation of laboratories other than that of Dr. Edward Blake of Forensic Science Associates, the forensic serologist who conducted the PCR tests at issue. Report of Proceedings, at 1294-97. While I recognize that the issues of the power of discrimination and the validation of laboratories may go to weight and not admissibility, the question about identifying contamination does appear to be a significant concern for many scientists. [33] Whether or not there was evidence of contamination in the present case is irrelevant; we are making law here for all cases, and if the danger of erroneous results due to contamination (which is usually present in crime scene specimens) is still a significant concern to knowledgeable scientists then the method does not yet meet the criteria of the Frye test. I disagree with the majority's conclusion that the reliability of the test due to contamination and unknown mixed samples goes to the weight of the evidence; it goes instead to the critical issues of the validity and reliability of the test when used in the forensic laboratory. At the Frye hearing, Dr. John Gerdes also explained some of the differences between DNA testing in the medical setting and in the forensic setting. He testified that the forensic specimens are generally contaminated, or mixed specimens, meaning that they are from a crime scene where they are contaminated with either bacteria or other DNA, that they are not controlled samples and are usually in very small amounts. He testified that for these reasons the specimen itself introduces an order of complexity in the testing. Dr. Gerdes testified that there is definitely a difference between applying PCR technology in a research or clinical setting and applying it to the examination of crime scene evidence in a forensic laboratory because the forensic source introduces inhibitors, and degradation and variability in terms of predictable outcome. Report of Proceedings, at 1292. Dr. Kristen Skogerboe similarly explained the differences between medical and forensic specimens. Report of Proceedings, at 1436. Dr. Kristen J. Skogerboe, Ph.D., a clinical chemist at the Laboratory of Pathology affiliated with Swedish Hospital in Seattle, also testified that there were not yet sufficient validation studies regarding the use of the Cetus DQ alpha kit for typing crime scene evidence, Report of Proceedings, at 1438, that the DQ alpha kit has not yet been shown to be reliable for typing on crime scene evidence, and that it was her belief that the PCR DQ alpha kit was not yet accepted in a widespread manner in the scientific community. Report of Proceedings, at 1446. Dr. Glenn A. Evans, Ph.D., M.D., associate molecular laboratory professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, was referred to by the prosecutor at oral argument before this court as the most knowledgeable PCR expert who testified in this case. He testified that PCR, itself, is a very widely used technique that is used by most molecular biology and genetics laboratories. However, he testified that the Cetus test uses PCR as only one aspect of its mechanism and that the methods used in the test are not widely in use in the clinical community or in the forensic community and very little has been published about the reliability or validation of that test. Report of Proceedings, at 1504-05. Dr. Evans discussed an editorial published in the American Journal of Human Genetics authored by Dr. Eric Lander, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Human Genome project and a scientist relied on extensively in our recent Cauthron opinion, and indicated that the PCR test was used in forensics only in a small number of laboratories and has yet to be accepted or validated. Report of Proceedings, at 1538-41. Dr. Lander's editorial explains that only a single polymorphism system (HLA DQ alpha) is available in PCR testing, providing no opportunity for consistency checking among loci for problems such as mixed samples, and expresses concern about the extraordinary care that must be taken to avoid contamination that can produce false matches. [34] In spite of such testimony, the majority opinion concludes that  extensive validation studies have been conducted on PCR testing (italics mine) and cites to Kamrin T. MacKnight, Comment, The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR): The Second Generation of DNA Analysis Methods Takes the Stand, 9 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 287, 344 (1993). Majority, at 49-50. Although this law student article does make this statement, it cites to just one study to support this statement. That study is described in a 1991 article published by the FBI. [35] This FBI validation study was published a year before the NRC published its exhaustive report on DNA testing which concluded that PCR has not yet achieved full acceptance in the forensic setting and that information on the extent of the contamination problem in PCR analysis and the differential amplification of mixed samples needs to be further developed and published. DNA Technology, at 70. Dr. Gerdes testified that the FBI study was a first step but does not go far enough. Report of Proceedings, at 1354. Dr. Evans testified that he would not recommend the FBI study be accepted for publication in the scientific journals for which he reviews because some of the studies could not be reproduced and because he knew that some of the test results regarding contamination were wrong. Report of Proceedings, at 1516. Dr. Evans testified that the RFLP test is reliable and accepted for use on crime scene evidence. Report of Proceedings, at 1506. However, with regard to PCR, he testified that it was difficult to ensure that a PCR test is amplifying DNA from the forensic sample and not from a contaminant. Report of Proceedings, at 1531-33. Dr. Evans testified regarding an article entitled Identification of the Skeletal Remains of a Murder Victim by DNA Analysis by Dr. Alec Jeffreys, who is described as the father of DNA forensics, published in Nature magazine. Dr. Evans testified that the article describes how because PCR is so sensitive, it is very difficult to be sure that one is amplifying the DNA from a sample and not from a contaminant. Report of Proceedings, at 1529-32. According to a report from the Office of Technology Assessment, validation studies show that the RFLP test can be successfully used on forensic samples, but that such validation studies were not yet completed on the PCR technique. Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress, Genetic Witness: Forensic Uses of DNA Tests 59, 60 (1990). At present, however, the enthusiasm of some for PCR applied to forensic casework is tempered ... Cautionary voices warn that, compared to RFLP analysis, all the possible artifacts and steps necessary to avoid them have not been fully identified. Some believe that additional studies of PCR on simulated or real samples is necessary to ensure that problems often encountered with real samples, including DNA and non-DNA contaminants, do not interfere with accurate PCR use in forensic applications. Genetic Witness, at 69.