Opinion ID: 1914912
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The 2000 DNA Tests and Trial

Text: When the case was reopened in 2000, investigators procured from the Medical Examiner's Office two slides that reportedly contained the vaginal and oral samples taken from Fafrowicz's body during the autopsy. Both slides were protected by cover slips that were adhered by a mounting medium. Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) scientist Catherine Knutson recognized that the tests she intended to perform on the DNA samples would exhaust those samples. She advised the prosecutor of this fact by letter approximately six weeks before the tests were performed, citing Minn. R.Crim. P. 9.01, subd. 1(4), and stating in part: This case is identified as a homicide case involving Bill Daymond Bailey and Agnes Mary Fafrowicz   . Please be advised that this testing may preclude any further tests or experiments within the meaning of the amendment to Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure 9.01, subdivision 1(4), January 1, 1990. For example, it may affect the evidence in our possession in the following manner: all of the evidence will be consumed in the analysis regarding the oral slides (Item 41) and vaginal slides (Item 42), both said to have been collected from Agnes Mary Fafrowicz. The decision whether to disclose this information to any other party is your responsibility as the prosecuting attorney. The prosecutor did not notify Bailey or his previously appointed attorney before Knutson performed the tests. In October 2000, using a Profiler Plus kit, Knutson tested the samples against a blood sample taken from Bailey during the 1984 investigation. To gain access to the sample on the slides, Knutson applied heat to the slides with a Bunsen burner until the mounting medium began to boil. Bailey claims that this process was in violation of approved laboratory protocols and had not been the subject of any validation studies by the BCA. The vaginal sample yielded interpretable DNA results at six of the ten tested loci, including the amelogenin (the sex gene). The resulting profile matched the DNA from Bailey's blood sample. The Profiler Plus test exhausted the DNA sample. As a result, the BCA was not able to also test the sample with the Cofiler kit, which typically examines an additional three loci, and no sample was available for independent testing by Bailey. With this new evidence, police once again charged Bailey with first-degree murder while committing criminal sexual conduct. A grand jury indicted him in December 2000. At that time, Bailey was serving time in federal prison in Oklahoma for unrelated offenses. At trial, over Bailey's objections, the district court allowed the state to present (1) evidence regarding Bailey's inculpatory statements made after the Miranda warning; (2) witness testimony describing and drawing conclusions from the destroyed or released physical evidence; (3) testimony from Knutson and other state experts providing the results of the DNA testing; and (4) evidence of three subsequent burglaries committed by Bailey. On February 28, 2002, the jury found Bailey guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to a consecutive term of life imprisonment. [4]