Opinion ID: 1390030
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Administration of the EDTA Test

Text: On September 13, 2004, Cellmark's Dr. Maddox and Respondent informed the Court that area 6G had been consumed in prior testing and was not suitable for EDTA testing and requested the Court's guidance. [17] The Court ordered Dr. Maddox, in consultation with Mr. Steven Myers, [18] to select an appropriate stain area and to prepare it for EDTA testing in accordance with the Amended EDTA Testing Order filed September 7, 2004. ( See 04-CV-656, Doc. No. 235.) Prior post-conviction DNA testing done by Petitioner's expert and Respondent showed that areas 6J and 6K were consistent with having Kevin Cooper as a clear majority contributor. (Resp't Opp. to Motion for Order Re EDTA Testing, Ex. A ¶ 14.) Therefore, Dr. Maddox, in consultation with Mr. Myers selected an area between stains 6J and 6K. [19] ( Id. ) After the extraction was completed, the vials containing the samples were shipped to Dr. Ballard and Dr. Suizdak to conduct double-blind EDTA testing. The test results were submitted to the Court on October 4, 2004. The Court issued an order regarding the EDTA test results and provided the reports of Drs. Maddox, Ballard and Suizdak to the parties. On October 29, 2004, Petitioner and Respondent filed their respective analyses of the EDTA test results. On November 5, 2004, Respondent filed a response to Petitioner's analysis of the EDTA test results and Petitioner filed a response to Respondent's analysis of the EDTA test results on November 8, 2004. On November 15, 2004, the Court held a hearing concerning EDTA testing results of the T-shirt. The parties agreed that DNA testing was required to determine whether the main stain fabric cut-out from the EDTA testing contained Petitioner's blood. [20] Petitioner and Respondent concurrently filed a proposed protocol for DNA testing on November 8, 2004 and both parties filed responses on November 12, 2004. On November 19, 2004, the Court held a telephonic hearing about the proposed DNA protocols. After discussion with the parties, the telephonic hearing was continued to November 22, 2004 in order to allow the parties to further consult with their respective experts. On November 24, 2004, based on the proposed protocols, the Court filed a Protocol for DNA Testing of the Main Stain Fabric Cut-Out and Control. Steven Myers, Respondent's expert, and Marc Taylor, Petitioner's expert, performed the DNA testing. From the results of that testing, Petitioner cannot be excluded as a contributor of the DNA extracted from the subject cut-out [21] while Peggy Ryen, Jessica Ryen, Josh Ryen, Doug Ryen, and Chris Hughes are each eliminated as a possible contributor of the interpreted profile. (04-CV-656, Doc. No. 305, Physical Evidence Examination Report and Report of Monitoring of DNA testing filed 12/23/04.)