Opinion ID: 2626390
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Physical Evidence and Forensic Tests

Text: As discussed below, the police found torn seat cushions and foam debris during a search of defendant's car. Criminalist Susan Johnson testified that there was no difference in color, chemical composition, or cellular structure between the foam found on Carol's body and the foam seized from defendant's car. The origin could have been the same. Criminalist Lloyd Mahanay made cotton swabs and microscope slides of the fluids in Carol's vagina and anus. Though he did not personally conduct such tests, he opined that any sperm found on these items would reflect ejaculation into each orifice. Mahanay ruled out the possibility that semen from the vagina could have contaminated the anal swab, or that ejaculation on or in the vagina could have leaked into the anus. Serologist Alison Ochiae testified that Carol had type O blood, and that defendant was a type A secretor. A secretor is one whose blood type appears in other bodily fluids. Ochiae found sperm on the vaginal swabs and anal slides that Criminalist Mahanay had prepared. Using the ABO method, Ochiae identified defendant as a possible sperm donor. She also linked him to a stain on Carol's jacket. The parties stipulated that Criminalist Mark Taylor performed DNA tests that could conclusively match the genetic materials in semen with the genetic materials in blood. The DNA pattern found on Carol's vaginal and anal swabs matched the DNA pattern obtained from defendant.