Opinion ID: 1351466
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Erroneous Admission of Electrophoresis Evidence Without a Kelly-Frye Hearing

Text: The prosecution introduced PGM marking evidence, obtained by standard electrophoretic methods from dried blood, saliva, and semen stains found on the victim and on the defendant. This evidence, in combination with the ABO typing evidence, suggested that the murderer came from a group composed of 5 percent of the male population, and that defendant was a member of that group. To counter this potentially incriminating testimony, defendant called Dr. Benjamin Grunbaum, who testified to the unreliability of conventional electrophoresis testing, and to the great potential for error in the testing even when the method is theoretically capable of producing correct results. Dr. Grunbaum testified in particular to the difficulty in reading and interpreting electrophoretic test results, and to the decay of improperly stored dry samples. (22) Defendant contends the admissibility of the electrophoretic evidence should have been subject to a Kelly-Frye hearing. ( People v. Kelly (1976) 17 Cal.3d 24 [130 Cal. Rptr. 144, 549 P.2d 1240]; Frye v. United States (D.C. Cir.1923) 293 Fed. 1013 [54 App.D.C. 46, 34 A.L.R. 145].) As set forth in People v. Kelly, supra, 17 Cal.3d at page 30, this hearing would have inquired into (1) the reliability of the method in general, (2) the use of proper scientific procedures in the particular case, and (3) whether the witness furnishing such testimony is a properly qualified expert. Defense counsel, however, failed to make a Kelly-Frye motion, or to raise any other objection to this evidence. Defendant therefore failed to preserve this issue for appeal. (Evid. Code, § 353; People v. Coleman (1988) 46 Cal.3d 749, 777 [251 Cal. Rptr. 83, 759 P.2d 1260].) Defendant also claims to discover in our previous Kelly-Frye holdings a duty by the trial court to raise Kelly-Frye objections sua sponte. We have never so held, and decline to do so now. To require the court of its own accord to raise Kelly-Frye issues, which are generally steeped in scientific and technical complexity, would burden it with a task better allocated to adversarial litigants who have strong incentives to unravel that complexity. Defendant then asks that we find defense counsel's failure to request a Kelly-Frye hearing constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. This contention is more fully developed in defendant's habeas corpus petition, and we accordingly address it in the following discussion of defendant's habeas corpus claims.