Opinion ID: 1815207
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: distinction between reliability of theory and technique and the evaluation of expert opinion proffered in a particular case

Text: If there is a question regarding the sample offered as the basis for the opinion in this case with regard to potential error in age of the marker, the fabric from which it was obtained, the particular test used or other factors going to the foundation of the expert opinion, these are factors to be evaluated by the trial court in its traditional function of determining admissibility, MRE 103, 104. If the test results are determined preliminarily to be admissible, facts affecting the weight and credibility of the opinion may, of course, be placed before the factfinder. The effect of crime scene contaminants on a particular sample is a question that relates to the trial court's duty to determine, as a preliminary issue of admissibility, whether the expert opinion offered in a given case with regard to a particular sample has a sufficient foundation to be relevant. [18] If the testimony is admitted, questions concerning the reliability of the sample and the test employed are explored through cross-examination and go to the weight and credibility of the opinion. [19] Because both the theory of electrophoresis and its application to evidentiary bloodstains are generally accepted in the relevant scientific community, I conclude that the testimony was properly admitted below. THE MULTISYSTEM TECHNIQUE While the issue of the particular technique used in this case was not within the scope of the remand order, and is not a proper subject for review by this Court, the majority deals extensively with the multisystem method as if that were the technique in question. Indeed, the observation in the majority opinion, p 491, that [b]ecause the results of the GLO test were not interpretable in the instant case, the only issue is the reliability of the PGM results in the multisystem analysis, highlights the fact that this is a question that goes to the discrete issue of admissibility and credibility of the opinion offered in this case. It may, however, be noted that combination analysis, or a system that analyzes more than one enzyme at a time, is routinely used and accepted as reliable in the scientific community. The testimony reveals that a combination method for the three markers tested simultaneously in this case, PGM, ESD, and GLO, is used in genetic research in the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology at Michigan State University. A combination method involving two sequential markers on the same gel is also in use at the University of Michigan Medical School, and a combination method was used for three years at the Minneapolis Blood Bank. [20] The literature establishes that there are a wide variety of multiple systems used to determine polymorphic enzymes on the same electrophoretic run and that these procedures are used by forensic and nonforensic scientists. See Gaensslen, supra, p 432. The particular multisystem method used in this case has been used by the FBI since 1979, is in use in more than one hundred crime laboratories in the country, and is taught to and used by students as a protocol at the University of California in Berkeley. It is also used for fresh blood testing in an independent laboratory available to any seeker of its services. This method was tested by blind trial tests conducted in four separate laboratories. Final Report, supra. While the results were returned to and tabulated by Beckham Laboratories, to which Brian Wraxall was then under contract, it is not correct to suggest that this was not an independent study or that these tests were self-verifying. These blind trials were not conducted by Mr. Wraxall. Rather, five batches of six bloodstains, each of various ages, were sent to serologists in their own labs, for typing of eight genetic markers. Thus, while it appears that the examiners knew what they were looking for, the tests were blind in the sense that the examiners did not know the identity of the markers in the particular sample. [21] Of a total of 912 readings, only one reading was incorrect. Wraxall, p B-7. [22] Subsequent blind trial proficiency tests for laboratories using the multisystem and those using other systems were conducted by the Forensic Science Foundation from 1979 to 1983. The sum total error rate on individual marker analyses was 1.6 percent of 3107 total tests per protocol. [23] I also disagree with my colleagues' evaluation of Dr. Rachael Fisher's testimony with regard to the multisystem. Dr. Fisher was qualified as an expert and is on staff at Michigan State University in the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology. She testified that she had run the enzymes in hundreds of different systems in her research on inherited diseases, had read the manual for the multisystem, and offered her opinion that the system incorporated all the features that are necessary to make it work. She further stated that the protocols for EAD, PGM, GLO, EAP, and Hp are recognized and, in reply to the specific question, If you had a dried bloodstain or a limited supply of blood, could you use a thin gel method and develop all three on that one thin gel?, she answered, yes, one could be done certainly. In any event if, as Dr. Grunbaum opined, there was a misapplication of the particular technique in the Young case, in my judgment this is an issue to be resolved by the trial court. As the Ninth Circuit noted in United States v Gwaltney, 790 F2d 1378, 1382 (CA 9, 1986): To the extent Gwaltney complains of the application of the procedure in this instance, he does so in the wrong forum. Criticism of the application of a valid test in a particular instance bears on weight, not admissibility. I would affirm.