Opinion ID: 1506658
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 57

Heading: FBI Report

Text: The trial court should have allowed defendant to elicit testimony from Dr. Shaler about an article indicating that the FBI did not use the association-of-alleles or dot-intensity technique. The error, however, was harmless. R. 2:10-2. As previously explained, supra part IV.B.5., some of defendant's criticisms regarding the dot-intensity technique bore on the weight, not the admissibility of the DNA evidence. Thus, the court should have permitted defendant to elicit testimony about the article, which went only to the weight of the State's evidence that it could determine defendant's identity from the mixed-blood sample taken from Schnaps's box spring. The error, however, was not clearly capable of producing an unjust result. R. 2:10-2. Dr. Shaler tried to prove that dot-intensity analysis was unscientific. He also testified that other forensic scientists agreed. Through his testimony, the jury knew that some scientists questioned the validity of dot-intensity analysis. Knowledge of the FBI's position would have added only limited weight to defendant's argument. As previously discussed, supra part IV.B.5., the FBI article did not, as the dissent states, contradict dot-intensity analysis. Post at 256-258, 280, 699 A. 2d 664-665, 676. Rather, the FBI Report urged caution when interpreting evidentiary samples that potentially may be from more than one donor. FBI Report, supra, at 52. The article also states, however, that mixtures of donors sharing the same alleles resulted in an increased dot intensity. Id. at 49.