Opinion ID: 2145049
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: DNA tests.

Text: At some point police recovered the shirt and pants Jervis wore on the night of the murder. A blood spot on the shirt was submitted to DNA testing to determine whether it was Boyer's blood. The State presented evidence showing a strong likelihood, based on the results from these tests, that this was the case. Two DNA lab tests were performed. The first, called DQ Alpha testing, concluded based on the DNA extracted from the blood spot that the genetic typing of the blood matched Boyer's typing, did not match Jervis's, and was found in only 10.9% of Caucasians. The first jury nonetheless refused to convict based on this and the other evidence presented. The second test, using poly marker analysis, was conducted after the first trial. This test also found a genetic match between the blood spot on Jervis's shirt and Boyer's blood but to a much higher probability. The technician who performed the second test testified without contradiction that the markers the second test identified are independent of those identified by the first test. Accordingly, the probability of the first is appropriately multiplied by that of the second to determine the probability of the matches identified by both. The lab technician testified in the second trial that these combined results yielded a genetic match between Boyer's blood and the blood sample that is found in only one of every 2500 Caucasians. Insofar as Jervis challenges the methodology and results of the DQ Alpha test, he has waived any error because he failed to object when the results were offered into evidence. Harrison v. State, 644 N.E.2d 1243, 1254 (Ind.1995), aff'd after remand, 659 N.E.2d 480 (Ind.1995), reh'g denied, cert. denied, 519 U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 307, 136 L.Ed.2d 224 (1996). However, Jervis interposed a timely objection to the poly marker analysis. He contends here that these results were unreliable because the lab technician who performed the tests testified at the first trial that the blood sample was too small for a more precise identification, and yet a stronger identification was somehow made in the poly marker test. His second claim is that the technician's testimony is inconsistent. Neither is persuasive. The technician testified in the first trial that the DNA sample was too small for a RFLP test. She reiterated this testimony in the second trial but explained that, unlike RFLP analysis, the poly marker did not require an additional extraction of DNA. Poly marker testing was not in use by her company at the time the DQ Alpha test was performed. And the technician was uncontradicted in testifying that there was enough DNA remaining from the DQ Alpha test to do the poly marker test. On the differences between RFLP and poly marker testing, the technician stated: We're talking about comparing apples to oranges here. Thus, Jervis's premise that the blood sample was too small for both the DQ Alpha and poly marker tests fails. Nor is the technician inconsistent in testifying at the first trial that the DNA sample was too small for more precise identification under RFLP analysis, and testifying at the second trial that the same sample, examined under a different method not used in the first trial, could come up with 0.04% probability of error. In Harrison, we noted that DNA test results are not magic words which, once uttered, cause the doors of admissibility to open. Harrison, 644 N.E.2d at 1251 (internal quotation marks omitted). Although Indiana Code § 35-37-4-13(b), enacted in 1991, attempted to make DNA evidence per se admissible without an inquiry into whether it is scientifically reliable in a particular case, Harrison held that DNA testing, like any other evidence aided by expert testimony, must be offered in conformity with the Indiana Rules of Evidence. Specifically, the court must satisfy itself that the scientific principles upon which the expert testimony rests are reliable. [9] Id.; Evid.R. 702(b). Although the trial court did not make a reliability finding as such for the poly marker analysis, Jervis does not challenge the method's scientific reliability. The technician clearly explained the methodology used to perform the poly marker test and Jervis does not contend now, nor did he at trial, that this process itself was novel or untrustworthy. Rather, Jervis attacks an alleged inconsistency in the results. But no inconsistency arises just because the second test yielded more precise genetic data than the first. Obtaining more precise data was the point of doing the poly marker analysis in the first place. Accordingly, we see no abuse of discretion in admitting the poly marker test results.