Opinion ID: 1881447
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Additional Defense Expert

Text: As his third issue on appeal, Overton asserts that the trial court erred in not appointing an additional defense expert to rebut the State's evidence relating to the presence of Nonoxynol 9 in the bedding found at the MacIvor home. In Bates v. State, 750 So.2d 6 (Fla.1999), this Court reiterated the applicable standard when a defendant alleges error in the trial court's decision to not appoint an expert: In evaluating whether there was an abuse of discretion courts have applied a two-part test: (1) whether the defendant made a particularized showing of need; and (2) whether the defendant was prejudiced by the Court's denial of the motion requesting the expert assistance. Id. at 16 (quoting San Martin v. State, 705 So.2d 1337, 1346 (Fla.1997)). Overton's particular point on appeal is that the defense needed an expert chemist to (1) conduct further testing on the bed sheet to determine whether the Nonoxynol at issue was the spermicidal form or commercial grade (i.e., the kind used in detergents), and (2) confront the state's expert's assertion that the Nonoxynol came from a detergent. Mr. Oliver, a chemist employed by the company that is the single manufacturer of spermicidal Nonoxynol-9, testified that, as a manufacturer, his lab could possibly tell the difference, given a significantly large sample, between spermicidal Nonoxynol-9 and commercial grade Nonoxynol-9. Oliver added, however, that once the chemical has been put out into the environment and say, placed on other objects, there is no test which can distinguish between the two types of Nonoxynol-9. After reviewing the results of the tests performed by Mr. Trager, Mr. Oliver concluded that the correct methodology was used, but that given the sample quantities extracted from the fitted sheet, there was no way to determine whether the Nonoxynol-9 found was spermicidal or commercial grade. Although Appellant mentions in his initial brief an FBI bulletin which apparently has some information indicating that forensic chemists do use tests to identify trace particles, lubricant ingredients, and/or spermicidal Nonoxynol from condoms, neither this bulletin, nor anything remotely similar, was brought to the trial court's attention. The only information the court had before it was both Mr. Trager's and Mr. Oliver's testimony that it was not possible to distinguish between spermicidal Nonoxynol and commercial grade Nonoxynol. This leads to the conclusion that the defendant failed to make a particularized showing of need because it was not possible to make the determination Overton sought to establish (i.e., that the Nonoxynol 9 found on the bed sheets was spermicidal in nature). However, even if we were to assume that defense counsel did establish a particularized need for the expert to conduct a test to differentiate between these two forms of Nonoxynol-9, and further assumed that such test did exist, and that when conducted the test would indicate that the Nonoxynol-9 found on the bed sheet was spermicidal, Overton cannot establish the requisite prejudice. That is, even if the Nonoxynol-9 came from a spermicidal condom, the State argued below that Overton, in his plan to not leave behind any evidence or witnesses, could have easily used a condom, the contents of which either spilled during the forcible sexual assault or when he attempted to remove the condom. Thus, as the State contends on appeal, and as was argued at the trial, it would not have mattered whether the Nonoxynol-9 was spermicidal or commercial grade. That factor, coupled with the correct characterization that the defense failed to produce a scintilla of evidence that Detective Visco planted the seminal fluids, precludes any showing of prejudice by Overton. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion.