Opinion ID: 1210687
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: District Court Reliance on Faulty Controls

Text: As discussed in greater detail below, five supposed control samples were taken from the tan t-shirt. When the two laboratories tested these samples, everyone assumed that they contained no human material (and therefore no human DNA) and that they contained only a background level of EDTA. However, at least three of the five purported control samples taken from the t-shirt (Samples 2, 3, and 4) actually contained human DNA. ER 4659, 4669. The amount of DNA in these samples corresponds closely with an elevated level of EDTA in these same samples. The combined presence of DNA and elevated levels of EDTA strongly suggest that these samples contained preserved blood that had been planted on the t-shirt. Therefore, these control samples from the t-shirt were not, in fact, controls at all. Nonetheless, the district court assumed that these samples were valid controls. Because the district court assumed that Samples 2, 3 and 4 were valid controls, it concluded that the results of the DNA tests were invalid. See Dist. Ct., 510 F.3d at 939 (The EDTA level in the subject stain is not elevated, but is instead lower than that of most of the control areas. As a result, the test refutes Petitioner's tampering theory. (emphasis added)); id. at 941 (From the test data, the Court concludes that the level of EDTA in the subject stain is 110 nanograms. Comparing the EDTA level of the subject stain to that for the control specimens, the Court concludes that there is no reliable evidence of tampering. (emphasis added)). But because the district court erred in assuming that these samples were valid controls, it erred in concluding that the results of the DNA tests were invalid. The only sample that could provide a baseline level of EDTA in the t-shirt, and could thus serve as a valid control, is Sample 6. It is the only sample from the t-shirt that contained no human DNA. Both Dr. Ballard and Dr. Siuzdak found only background levels of EDTA in Sample 6. The levels of EDTA found in Sample 6 by both Dr. Ballard and Dr. Siuzdak were far lower than the levels of EDTA found in any other sample taken from the t-shirt. (Recall that the district court found that the levels of EDTA in the T-shirt were accurately measured by Dr. Ballard. Dist. Ct., 510 F.3d at 941.) The virtual absence of EDTA in Sample 6 when compared with the elevated EDTA levels in Sample 1, particularly the portion of Sample 1 tested by Dr. Siuzdak, strongly suggests that Cooper's blood was planted on the shirt.