Opinion ID: 1824119
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: failure to perform dna testing of the blood found at the crime scene.

Text: ¶ 18. Randle asserts that his due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution were violated by the State's failure to perform DNA testing. Randle did not, however, request such DNA testing below. The State alleges that Randle did not preserve this issue for appeal, and thus it contends that Randle is procedurally barred from complaining about it on appeal. Randle did not request that DNA tests be performed, and he did not raise the issue of prejudice to him at trial or in his motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or in the alternative a new trial. Under these facts, Randle is barred from pursuing this issue on appeal. ¶ 19. However, as Randle asserts that his constitutional rights have been violated, this Court will review the issue anyway, particularly under the plain error standard. We find that no harm resulted to Randle from the failure to perform DNA testing. First, this Court has not held that DNA testing is a constitutional right. In fact, this Court has found in other cases regarding DNA testing that failure to do testing or inadvertent destruction of evidence prior to testing was not error. See King v. State, 798 So.2d 1258 (Miss.2001); Coleman v. State, 697 So.2d 777 (Miss.1997). While these cases are not directly on point, they do provide some insight on this issue. Coleman involved the failure to do DNA testing, followed by the denial of a defense motion to pay for DNA tests. Coleman, 697 So.2d at 777. This Court specifically stated that [c]onsidering the expense and time required to conduct DNA testing, we will not require the State to pay for DNA testing where there is no showing that it would significantly aid the defense. Id. at 782. ¶ 20. King involved inadvertent destruction of evidence. The police had collected the blood-stained shirt King was wearing when he was picked up. King, 798 So.2d at 1261. The police failed to freeze the shirt, so when testing was done the only determination possible was that the sample found on the shirt was human blood. Id. King was charged with the murder of Emma Lou Pitts. Id. at 1260. His cell phone had been found in her home, near her body. Id. at 1261. Much like Randle, King asserted as his defense at trial that he had been attacked and robbed. Id. He asserted that the blood on his shirt was that of his attacker and that his attacker may have killed Pitts. Id. He pointed to the fact that the blood that was found in her home did not match Pitts's or his blood type to support his theory of another suspect. Id. at 1261. ¶ 21. This Court reviewed King's allegation that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to dismiss for the failure to preserve this evidence. Id. at 1262. This Court stated that [T]he State's duty to preserve evidence is limited to evidence that is expected to play a significant role in the defense. To play a constitutionally significant role in the defense, the exculpatory nature of the evidence must have been (1) apparent before the evidence was destroyed and (2) of such a nature that the defendant could not obtain comparable evidence by other reasonable means. Id. (citing Banks v. State, 725 So.2d 711, 714-15 (Miss.1997)). A failure to preserve is not alleged in the case at bar, but the situation in the case sub judice is comparable to the error alleged when evidence is not preserved, as the question remains the same: Was it error to fail to present this evidence? Here, we find that the exculpatory nature of the evidence was not necessarily apparent. Randle's counsel questioned McCaskill about why DNA tests were not performed. McCaskill stated that DNA tests are expensive, and they consider carefully whether the performance of such testing is necessary in each case. McCaskill also observed that such testing would have been of little benefit in the case at bar as Randle was wearing gloves when they first saw him, thus any fingerprints found would not likely be his. Further, as Randle testified that he was often in Sewell's house, such evidence could be explained away easily. As to the blood testing, McCaskill and the other witnesses testified that Randle was not bleeding when they first saw him, and thus it is unlikely that any blood at the scene would have been his. ¶ 22. It is of some import that Randle alleges that two men attacked him. Therefore, if some of the blood did not match Sewell's, this could have been exculpatory. Thus, we also consider the second prong of this test, which looks to whether comparable evidence was available. It is noteworthy that King and Randle assert a somewhat similar defense, as this Court determined that King did not meet the second prong since he was still able to present his theory of the case to the jury much as Randle was able to. ¶ 23. King also states that the mere possibility [that] the evidence might aid the defense does not satisfy the constitutional materiality standard. Id. at 1263 (citing Tolbert v. State, 511 So.2d 1368, 1372 (Miss.1987)). Further, King also notes that a review of the record shows that, at best, this evidence would have only aided King's defense; it was not a necessary element of it. Id. The same is true in Randle's case. As this Court has held, there is no duty on the State to search out and discover any and all possible exculpatory evidence. Campbell v. State, 437 So.2d 3, 5 (Miss.1983). Thus, based on this Court's prior case law and the facts of this case, this Court finds this issue to be without merit.