Opinion ID: 2381664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: History of Forensic Hair Analysis

Text: One of the earliest reported cases involving the consideration of the use of forensic hair analysis in a criminal case was decided more than one hundred years ago. Knoll v. State, 55 Wis. 249, 12 N.W. 369 (1882). Since that time, evidence of the results from a scientific analysis of hair has been considered extensively by courts in every state. See Annotation, Admissibility and Weight, in Criminal Case, of Expert or Scientific Evidence Respecting Characteristics and Identification of Human Hair, 23 A.L.R.4th 1199 (1983). This subject has also been addressed in many scholarly publications. See, e.g., Imwinkelried, Forensic Hair Analysis: The Case Against the Underemployment of Scientific Evidence, 39 Wash. & Lee L.Rev. 41 (1982); Gaudette, Forensic Hair Comparisons, 12 Crime Laboratory Dig. 44 (1985); Annotation, Hair Analysis, 38 P.O.F.2d 377 (1984); Note, The Use of Scientific Evidence in Rape Prosecutions, 18 U.Rich.L.Rev. 851, 862-64 (1984). This Court has held that a fingerprint match is so conclusive that it alone constitutes probable cause for a warrantless felony arrest. Thomas v. State, Del.Supr., 467 A.2d 954, 957 (1983). However, it is now universally recognized that although fingerprint comparisons can result in the positive identification of an individual, hair comparisons are not this precise. See Miller, Procedural Bias in Forensic Science Examinations of Human Hair, 11 L. & Hum.Behav. 157, 158 (1987); Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Microscopy of Hair: A Practical Guide and Manual 7 (1977). Years ago, this Court acknowledged the fact that hair comparisons are not as positive in identification as are fingerprints. Parson v. State, Del.Supr., 222 A.2d 326, 331 (1966). [7] Nevertheless, this Court has held that hair identification testimony is properly admitted into evidence at trial: At trial, an F.B.I. agent testified as an expert witness that a hair specimen found on the clothing of the victim exhibited the same microscopic characteristics as head hairs removed from the defendant. The defendant contends that this testimony should have been excluded as speculative or conjectural because the witness was unable to state specifically that the hair found on the victim's clothing was that of defendant. The hair-identification testimony was properly admitted. The weight to be given such evidence is for the trier of fact. Brown v. State, Del.Supr., 329 A.2d 153, 154 (1974). [8] The issue raised by Thompson is not the weight which hair identification evidence should receive at trial, but the weight which such evidence should be accorded in evaluating probable cause to arrest. The probative value attributable to hair comparisons is placed into perspective by a review of a few of our prior decisions which have commented upon such evidence. [9] It is significant that the results of a comparative hair analysis have been held to be so important to the defense of a criminal case as to require the reversal of a conviction if access to such information is denied by the State. Ayres v. State, Del.Supr., 436 A.2d 800, 802-03 (1981). See Deberry v. State, Del.Supr., 457 A.2d 744, 751 & n. 5 (1983); Fensterer v. State, Del.Supr., 509 A.2d 1106, 1109-11 (1986). [10] In Ayres, an FBI report contained two negative hair comparisons that were favorable to the defendant in a rape case. 436 A.2d at 802 & n. 1. This Court found that the FBI report constituted Brady matter [11] and was clearly material to the issue of whether intercourse had occurred. Id. at 802. Moreover, this Court held that the FBI report was of sufficient probative value (due to its objective nature) to create a reasonable doubt that may not have otherwise existed as to defendant's guilt. Id. at 803. Similarly, in Deberry, another rape case, this Court found that the absence of the victim's hair on the defendant's clothing would support the denial of intercourse. 457 A.2d at 751 & n. 5. In examining evidence of hair analysis from the prosecution's point of view, this Court has concluded that such evidence is sufficient to connect the victim of a rape and the defendant. Parson v. State, 222 A.2d at 331. [12] We have also observed that hairs discovered in a discarded ski mask linked the defendant to a robbery. Buckingham v. State, Del.Supr., 482 A.2d 327, 330 (1984).