Opinion ID: 1867526
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: State's Evidence at Trial

Text: The state's theory of the case was that Blom kidnapped Poirier from DJ's Expressway, forced her into his truck, drove to his property near Kerrick, strangled her, and burned her body in his fire pit. The state was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Blom kidnapped Poirier, Poirier died, Blom killed her, and that he intended to kill her. A redacted version of Blom's September 8 statement was presented to the jury. The following evidence also was presented by the state. a. Evidence Relating to Whether Poirier was at Blom's Kerrick Property The state submitted as evidence the bone fragments and tooth the police recovered from Blom's fire pit. The police testified that the condition of the ashes in the fire pit suggested there had been a recent fire that had been fueled by accelerants. A forensic anthropologist testified that the bone fragments and tooth were those of a young adult female between the ages of 15 and 24, with a mean age of 19.4 years. The anthropologist analyzed the burned skeletal remains to determine the condition of the bones before incineration. She concluded the bones had an organic component and therefore were fresh. The anthropologist stated that the full skeleton was not in the fire pit and that the cause of death could not be determined. A Duluth dentist testified that on August 27, 1991, he had placed a one-surface occlusal amalgam cavity filling in Poirier's lower left second molar-tooth number 18. The dentist testified he prepped the cavity with Dropsin, a Swedish cavity lining material containing a large amount of zinc. A second Duluth dentist testified to having treated Poirier on May 12, 1999, less than two weeks before the abduction. This dentist replaced the existing filling in tooth number 18 with another amalgam filling, using a bonded acid-etch technique and a 3M bonding product known as Rely X ARC. The dentist testified that she first used this bonding agent after receiving samples the previous monthApril 1999 from a 3M distributor at a dental convention. A 3M chemist who supervised the development of Rely X ARC testified that the product was first shipped to the marketplace in February or March 1999. A forensic scientist in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's (BCA) microanalytical section testified that the tooth recovered from Blom's fire pit was consistent with a human tooth number 18 that had been treated with a dental amalgam that had been bonded to the tooth with Rely X ARC. Finally, a faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry testified that the recovered tooth had been treated with the acid-etch technique. Based on comparisons between the tooth and jaw-bone fragments found in the fire pit and Poirier's dental x-rays and medical records, the state's two forensic dentists testified that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the tooth belonged to Poirier. The dentists' conclusions were based on the following findings: (1) The recovered tooth and Poirier's tooth (lower left second molar, number 18) both had an extra, distinctively similar-looking root. Typically, tooth number 18 only has two roots. (2) A comparison of Poirier's dental x-rays of 1994 and 1997 to x-rays of the recovered tooth and jaw fragments revealed various conformities in root size and shape, tooth structure, and physical characteristics of the area where the tooth was filled. (3) The recovered tooth contained zirconium and silicon on its surface in roughly the same proportions present in a bonding agent used for a cavity filling called Rely X ARC, which bonding agent was used on Poirier's tooth for a cavity filling approximately two weeks before her disappearance and was only first introduced to the market approximately three months before it was used on Poirier's tooth. (4) The recovered tooth contained a small amount of zinc, which was used in an earlier filling of Poirier's tooth in 1991. (5) Both the recovered tooth and Poirier's tooth had been filled using the acid-etch method of cavity filling. During cross-examination, the defense presented testimony to show that the acid-etch technique used to fill the recovered tooth had been in use since 1955. The defense also presented evidence that when the state's chief dental expert first examined the tooth on June 25, 1999, she considered that the tooth might be of animal origin. Then, on July 2, this expert and the state's other dental expert identified the tooth as human tooth number 30, which is the lower right first molar, but eliminated Poirier as the owner. On August 20, the state's chief dental expert stated that the tooth was not number 30, but rather number 18, and made a possible identification of it being Poirier's tooth. Approximately two days before trial, after reviewing all the information the expert had about the tooth, including the chemical reports, she changed her conclusion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the tooth was Poirier's. The defense presented its own forensic dentist who, upon reviewing the same information available to the state's forensic dentists, concluded that while the tooth was a human tooth, clearly inconsistent ante-mortem and post-mortem data excluded the tooth as being from Poirier. Blom's expert forensic dentist based his conclusion on the following: (1) There was not enough basis to make a good comparison with Poirier's dental records because the enamel cap, a good portion of the root, and the filling of the recovered tooth were missing, and because the tooth was 20-25% smaller than Poirier's toothalthough this possibly could be due to shrinkage from burning. (2) The shape of the fillings in the x-rays of the recovered tooth and Poirier's tooth did not match. (3) The shape of the front root in the x-rays of the recovered tooth and Poirier's tooth did not match. (4) There was no value in comparing a post-mortem post -filling x-ray with a pre-mortem pre -filling x-ray.