Opinion ID: 1210687
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Graph 3: Correlation Between DNA and Ballard's EDTA Measures [8] (Samples 2, 3, 4, and 6)

Text: These graphs, showing the presence and amount of DNA in Samples 2, 3, 4, and 6, tell us a number of things. First, they tell us that Samples 2, 3 and 4 are not valid controls. Thus, the district court erred in treating them as controls when it interpreted (and disregarded) Dr. Ballard's results. See, e.g., Dist. Ct., 510 F.3d at 939. The EDTA levels in Sample 6, the only true control, are significantly lower than the EDTA levels in Samples 2, 3 and 4, and in Sample 1, the sample thought to contain Cooper's blood. Second, the variation in EDTA levels in three supposed control samplesSamples 2, 3 and 4directly corresponds with the variation in human DNA levels in those samples. EDTA is present in many substances, such as laundry detergent, salad dressing, and household cleaners. See Dist. Ct., 510 F.3d at 947 & n. 34. Those substances, however, do not contain human DNA. Human blood stored in purpletopped EDTA tubes, such as those used by the SBCSD, has both EDTA and human DNA. Samples 2, 3 and 4 had elevated levels of EDTA and correspondingly elevated levels of human DNA. The most plausible explanation is that the EDTA was deposited on the t-shirt along with human DNA. The most logical source of such a deposit is human blood stored in a purple-topped EDTA tube. We know that Cooper's EDTA-preserved blood sample (VV-2) and other EDTA-preserved blood samples from the victims were kept in an evidence refrigerator to which up to twenty people had ready access. 6/23/03 RT 106, 134. We also know that blood could be withdrawn from those tubes without breaking any seals. 6/25/03 RT 330. Finally, we know that anyone with access to that refrigerator... could take items in and out of it without there being any record of it at all, without any written record. 6/23/03 RT 134. This information, coupled with the EDTA and DNA findings described above, strongly suggest that someone in the SBCSD took blood from one or more purple-topped EDTA tubes and placed that blood on the t-shirt. Third, the district court did not account for the correlation between human DNA and EDTA in the control samples when it stated: While the extraction and measurement of EDTA in a sample may theoretically be accomplished, the ubiquity of EDTA in the environment prevents any meaningful interpretation of the significance of an `elevated' level of EDTA within a forensic sample. Dist. Ct., 510 F.3d at 941. The data demonstrate that, contrary to the view of the district court, meaningful interpretation of the significance of an elevated level of EDTA is possible. They demonstrate, in fact, that Dr. Siuzdak's test results were probably valid.