Opinion ID: 1914912
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: DNA: Bunsen Burner

Text: Bailey argues that the DNA test results should have been excluded because the state failed to establish that the BCA followed proper protocols in removing the cover slip from the forensic-sample slide. The evidence was that following visual inspection of the vaginal smear slide, the BCA analyst determined that biological material was adhered to the slide. The analyst then removed the cover slip by using a Bunsen burner to heat the bottom of the slide for approximately 30 seconds, when the mounting media had softened to the point that it had just begun to liquefy and the cover slip loosened. The analyst swabbed the biological material off the slide and prepared it for DNA extraction. The analyst then extracted the DNA from the sample and tested it with the Profiler Plus kit. Results were obtained for five of the nine loci tested, plus the amelogenin (the gender gene). [24] The BCA had protocols for removing forensic samples from slides, including freezing and prying a cover slip off a slide or soaking the slide in Xylene for several hours; but none of the documented protocols involved heat with a Bunsen burner. Given the common usage of glass slides with cover slips, the district court found it troubling and even regrettable that no validation study had been done for the use of a Bunsen burner flame to remove a cover slip from a glass slide. Nevertheless, the court allowed the DNA evidence. The court considered that scientific studies documented the use of boiling water to remove a cover slip from a glass slide. The court considered testimony from experts for the state and defense who agreed that mounting media affixing a cover slip to a slide would melt at the same temperature regardless of whether the heat came from boiling water or a Bunsen burner flame; they agreed that environmental insults could degrade or destroy a sample; and they agreed that while heat could degrade DNA to the point that no profile could be obtained, it could not alter the profile. The court also considered the likelihood that the sample had been degraded for reasons other than heat from the Bunsen burner: the victim had been dead for three days before the sample was collected; the sample was over 16 years old; and the conditions of storage were unknown. The court concluded that the evidence established the reliability of the DNA test results at the five interpretable loci; and the court further concluded that the fact the results were not interpretable at the remaining loci was an issue that went to the weight of the evidence and not to its admissibility. [25] The court revisited the DNA evidentiary ruling well before trial and determined that the state had demonstrated that the method of extraction was scientifically valid. [26] The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories require laboratories to have procedures to ensure the integrity of the physical evidence. (Standard 7.1). Accordingly, laboratories that engage in forensic DNA testing must follow documented procedures that minimize loss, contamination, and/or deleterious change of evidence. (Standard 7.1.3). The FBI Standards also require laboratories to use validated methods and procedures for forensic casework analyses (Standard 8.1), including [d]evelopmental validation. (Standard 8.1.1). The FBI Standards also require laboratories to follow written analytical procedures, including a procedure for differential extraction of stains that potentially contain semen. (Standard 9.1.3). It seems to me that in Bailey's case, the method of removing the cover slip from the glass slide had more to do with ensuring the integrity of the physical evidence that was tested rather than the methods and procedures employed for the forensic analysis that require the kind of validation necessary to assure the reliability of the results of that analysis. Certainly, procedures for handling the physical evidence need to be validated to assure that such procedures do not harm the evidence; but I believe the district court appropriately concluded that the degradation of the evidence was an issue of weight or value to be given the evidence by the jury and not the admissibility of the analysis of the degraded DNA. Rulings on evidentiary matters rest within the sound discretion of the trial court, and we will not reverse such evidentiary rulings absent a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Chomnarith, 654 N.W.2d 660, 665 (Minn.2003). I believe the admission of the DNA evidence was well within the district court's discretion; and given that a validation study constructed along the lines suggested by the expert for the defense has been accomplished and was presented at trial, I see little point in remanding this issue for further litigation.