Opinion ID: 2044218
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Polymarker and D1S80 tests

Text: Defendant argues that the PM and D1S80 tests are not scientifically reliable and, thus, testimony on them is inadmissable under Indiana Evidence Rule 702(b). We disagree. During the suppression hearing, the State and the defendant proffered numerous highly qualified experts to testify as to the reliability of these tests. For example, Dr. Michael Conneally, a Professor of Medical Genetics and Neurology at Indiana University, Dr. Bruce Budowle, Chief of the Forensic Science Research Unit in the FBI Academy, and Dr. David Bing, Director of Clinical Testing at Harvard's Center for Blood Research Laboratories testified as to the general acceptance, use, and reliability of the kits. In opposition, Dr. Donald E. Riley, a faculty member of the University of Washington Departments of Urology and Pathobiology, testified as to the unreliability of the PM and D1S80 tests. Sandy L. Zabell, a professor of mathematics and statistics at Northwestern University, also testified for the defense as to possible statistical errors in the test results produced. In addition to expert testimony, the State submitted the National Research Council's 1996 Evaluation of Forensic DNA Evidence (NRC), which states that the PM and D1S80 tests have been validated and that the state of the profiling technology and the methods for estimating frequencies and related statistics have progressed to the point where the admissibility of properly collected and analyzed DNA data should not be in doubt. (R. at 2955-56.) Finally, other courts accept the reliability of the PM and D1S80 tests. See Beasley, 102 F.3d at 1446-48; Gaines, 979 F.Supp. at 1435-41; Sok, 683 N.E.2d at 680-81. The trial court properly found that the PM and D1S80 tests are scientifically reliable.