Opinion ID: 2621432
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Frye Hearing and DNA Evidence

Text: ś 114 Washington has adopted the Frye test for evaluating the admissibility of new scientific evidence. State v. Cauthron, 120 Wash.2d 879, 886, 846 P.2d 502 (1993) (citing Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013, 1014 (D.C.Cir.1923)). The primary goal is to determine whether the evidence offered is based on established scientific methodology. State v. Gore, 143 Wash.2d 288, 302, 21 P.3d 262 (2001). Both the scientific theory underlying the evidence and the technique or methodology used to implement it must be generally accepted in the scientific community for evidence to be admissible under Frye. Id. If there is a significant dispute among qualified scientists in the relevant scientific community, then the evidence may not be admitted, but scientific opinion need not be unanimous. Id. ś 115 Once a methodology is accepted in the scientific community, then application of the science to a particular case is a matter of weight and admissibility under ER 702, which allows qualified expert witnesses to testify if scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact. ER 702; see also State v. Copeland, 130 Wash.2d 244, 263, 272, 922 P.2d 1304 (1996) (citing Cauthron, 120 Wash.2d 879, 846 P.2d 502). For example, once we conclude that it is generally accepted that genetic frequency calculations can be made from an adequate DNA database, then whether a particular database is large enough, representative of the relevant population, or of sufficient quality, are all matters of weight and admissibility under ER 702. Id. at 272-74, 922 P.2d 1304. DNA admissibility issues recur with some frequency and, needless to say, often involve time-consuming, expensive Frye hearings. Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 304-05, 21 P.3d 262. Therefore, courts should analyze scientific evidence under ER 702 whenever possible. In Washington, whether a given scientific technique has been performed correctly in a particular instance, i.e., whether laboratory error has occurred, goes to its weight, not admissibility. Copeland, 130 Wash.2d at 270, 922 P.2d 1304; Gentry, 125 Wash.2d at 586, 888 P.2d 1105. ś 116 At trial Gregory moved for a Frye /ER 702 hearing, but the trial court denied the motion because the State had established that the tests and methodologies used by the WSPCL and Forensic Science Associates (FSA) were generally accepted in the scientific community. On appeal, Gregory argues that the trial court should have conducted a Frye hearing because three aspects of the DNA testing are not generally accepted in the scientific community. Gregory raises no ER 702 issues. ś 117 Appellate review of a Frye ruling (issued after a Frye hearing) is de novo. It is not clear what standard of review should be applied to a trial court's decision not to conduct a Frye hearing at all. Yet the trial court here declined to conduct a Frye hearing because it found that the scientific evidence has been generally accepted in the scientific community, the same question ultimately addressed on appeal after a Frye hearing. Thus, application of a de novo standard is appropriate. ś 118 First, Gregory contends that the use of a flatbed scanner to memorialize the typing strips produced during DQ-alpha and polymarker testing is not a generally accepted technique. The result of a DQ-alpha analysis of DNA is typing strip showing a series of blue dots. To determine whether two samples could have come from the same person, the scientist checks whether the samples have produced the same pattern of dots. Russell, 125 Wash.2d at 39, 882 P.2d 747. The strip itself will eventually turn blue and the results will fade in time. Therefore, the scientist in this case scanned the testing strips into a computer while they were still wet and printed the images to memorialize the strips. The strips revealed that the DNA from the vaginal swab matched Gregory's DNA. The odds of a random match were 1 in 2,500 in the African American population. ś 119 According to Gregory, the accepted protocol calls for Polaroid photography, rather than flatbed scanning. However, the trial court concluded that the use of the scanner did not implicate the underlying methodology of the DQ-alpha or polymarker testing, which this court has recognized as having been generally accepted in the scientific community. Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 305, 21 P.3d 262. We agree. Gregory's chief complaint with the use of the flatbed scanner is that the analyst will be able to alter the intensity of the dots on the typing strip. Whether the analyst adjusted the dot intensity in a particular case is a question of what occurred in the laboratory during the test. Because the lab analyst can be cross-examined on this point, the issue goes to weight, not admissibility. See Copeland, 130 Wash.2d at 276, 922 P.2d 1304 (holding an analyst's ability to override a computer, making a band fall within a five percent match window, goes to weight not admissibility). Gregory does not contend that the analyst in this case actually altered the dot intensity. ś 120 Second, Gregory asserts that the techniques used by FSA in its polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based STR testing are not generally accepted. Samples taken from G.H.'s body and bedspread as well as Gregory's blood samples were subjected to PCR-based STR DNA testing using the profiler plus testing kit and capillary electrophoresis. Gregory's DNA profile matched the sperm found on G.H.'s bedspread and on and in her body. The odds of a random match were 1 in 190 billion in the African American population. ś 121 In Gore, this court concluded that PCR based DQ-alpha, polymarker, and D 1 S80 systems are generally accepted in the scientific community. Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 304-07, 21 P.3d 262. In the PCR procedure, enzymes are used to locate and replicate genes of interest. Russell, 125 Wash.2d at 38, 882 P.2d 747. The chosen genes are replicated billions of times, a process called amplification. Id. Then the amplified DNA is either (1) flooded over a nylon membrane which has been treated such that different variations of the genes of interest (possible variations are called alleles) will show up as varying dots on the membrane, id. at 37-39, 882 P.2d 747, or (2) run through a gel where an electric current causes them to spread over the gel in a distinct manner depending on variations in the gene of interest (a process called gel electrophoresis). See Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 305-06, 21 P.3d 262. If two samples create the same pattern on the membrane or gel then there is a match, meaning they could have come from the same person. Russell, 125 Wash.2d at 39, 882 P.2d 747. The DQ-alpha and D1S80 systems have been approved by this court. See Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 305-07, 21 P.3d 262. In Gore, we concluded that a Frye hearing on admissibility of typing techniques is not necessary for PCR based systems, and we declined to require new Frye hearings each time new loci are involved in DNA testing. Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 305, 307, 21 P.3d 262. ś 122 STR testing is a type of PCR testing where different regions of the DNA are amplified by the PCR process. In its 1996 report, the National Research Council noted that STR testing is particularly appropriate for forensic use and many courts have held that STR testing is generally accepted in the scientific community. See, e.g., Troxell v. State, 778 N.E.2d 811, 816 (Ind.2002); State v. Deloatch, 354 N.J.Super. 76, 804 A.2d 604, 610-11 (2002) (noting that 48 states and the FBI use and recognize STR testing); State v. Butterfield, 2001 UT 59, 27 P.3d 1133, 1143 (2001); State v. Jackson, 255 Neb. 68, 582 N.W.2d 317, 325 (1998). While the amplified DNA here was separated by capillary electrophoresis, rather than gel electrophoresis, other courts have recognized that capillary electrophoresis in STR testing is generally accepted in the scientific community. See, e.g., People v. Henderson, 107 Cal.App.4th 769, 132 Cal.Rptr.2d 255, 267 (2003); Butterfield, 27 P.3d at 1144-45. Furthermore, use of the profiler plus testing kit, the kit used by FSA in this case, has also been found to be generally accepted in the scientific community. See State v. Traylor, 656 N.W.2d 885, 890, 900 (Minn.2003); Yisrael v. State, 827 So.2d 1113, 1114-15 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 2002); Butterfield, 27 P.3d at 1144-45. Finally, Gregory does not dispute the trial court's findings that [h]undreds of scientific articles have been published regarding the use of STR technology, and [t]he use of STRs has been extensively validated in inter-laboratory comparisons conducted throughout the world. MCP at 2952; see also Traylor, 656 N.W.2d at 892-93 nn. 5, 6 (listing articles). ś 123 Notably, Gregory does not cite to a single appellate case or scientific article that concludes that STR testing, use of the profiler plus testing kit, or capillary electrophoresis, is not generally accepted. He cites only to the testimony of Dr. Randall Libby, a defense expert whose conclusions this court has questioned before. See Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 309 n. 9, 21 P.3d 262 (noting Dr. Libby's personal financial interest in having the courts hold that there is significant disagreement in the scientific community). We conclude that the STR techniques used in this case are generally accepted in the scientific community and no Frye hearing was necessary here. While Gregory complains that FSA failed to perform internal validation, there was no evidence that FSA procedures compromised the test results in this case. Further, as noted, issues of laboratory error are properly the subject of cross-examination and go to weight not admissibility. See Copeland, 130 Wash.2d at 271, 922 P.2d 1304. ś 124 Third, Gregory asserts that application of the product rule to the genotype frequencies used for STR analysis is not generally accepted in the scientific community. See id. at 264, 922 P.2d 1304 (statistical evidence of genetic profile frequency probabilities must be presented to the jury). The product rule means that the probability of a genetic profile occurring in the population is the product of the probabilities of each individual allele's occurrence in the population. Validity of the rule depends upon whether the individual alleles are actually statistically independent. . . . Two assumptions underlie use of the product rule when calculating genetic profile frequencies: linkage equilibrium, which means that the alleles at different loci are inherited independent of each other, and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which means that one allele at a locus is not predictive of the other allele at that locus (one allele is inherited from the mother, the other from the father). Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium depends upon an assumption of a large population in which there is random mating. Gore, 143 Wash.2d at 308, 21 P.3d 262 (quoting Copeland, 130 Wash.2d at 264-65, 922 P.2d 1304 (citations omitted)). Gregory asserts that because these determinations are dependent upon the particular loci used in the DNA test, prior holdings that the product rule could be applied to the results of particular PCR based tests cannot govern whether the product rule can be used with STR tests. Because defense expert, Dr. Laurence Mueller, [38] raised questions about linkage equilibrium in STR databases, Gregory contends the trial court should have conducted a Frye hearing on this issue. ś 125 However, this court has already held that whether a particular database is large enough, representative of the relevant population, or of sufficient quality are all matters of weight and admissibility under ER 702. Copeland, 130 Wash.2d at 272-74, 922 P.2d 1304. Similarly, questions concerning linkage equilibrium in STR databases would be more properly discussed by experts at trial whose testimony has been evaluated under the ER 702 standard. Based on this court's prior case law and our preference for evaluation of evidence under ER 702, we conclude that the trial court did not err in declining to hold a Frye hearing in this case.