Opinion ID: 1468342
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: vaginal swabs

Text: Appellant contends that the government mishandled vaginal swabs taken from the victim, thus depriving appellant of critical exculpatory evidence and his due process right to a fair trial, and violating his right to discovery under Super.Ct.Cr.R. 16. We disagree. In the course of performing an autopsy on the victim, Dr. James Luke, the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia, prepared vaginal swabs which were tested in September 1972 by a government expert, Agent Cronin, for the presence of semen. Agent Cronin did not test the swabs for blood group substances, later testifying that he believed such an attempt would have produced inaccurate results in light of the likelihood of contamination from bacteria naturally present in the vagina. The defense expert, Dr. Ruth Guy, examined the swabs in the summer of 1973. She testified that she was able to find both type A and type B blood group substances on the swabs, and that notwithstanding the possibility of bacterial contamination she had no doubt of the accuracy of her results, which showed that appellant could not have been the person who raped Rebecca Rieser. The government called in rebuttal another expert, Dr. Alexander Weiner. Dr. Weiner testified against the efficacy of blood group analysis of the swabs, agreeing with Agent Cronin that the natural presence of vaginal bacteria precluded accurate results, and noting that, in any event, saline tests conducted by Agent Cronin to determine the presence of semen stripped the swabs of material necessary for blood group analysis. Appellant asserts that this saline test amounted to mishandling of the swabs. He asserts further that the government packaged and stored the swabs in a manner which resulted in increasing the likelihood of bacterial contamination, and that the government was negligent in failing to test the swabs for blood type before subjecting them to procedures which created a risk of bacterial contamination. Appellant's contention that the government mishandled the swabs and thus deprived him of important exculpatory evidence is undermined fatally by the testimony of defense expert Dr. Guy in unequivocal support of the accuracy of her findings. What this argument really comes down to is that the jury did not accept Dr. Guy's testimony and believed instead the contrary testimony of government experts, who asserted that the swabs were of no scientific value for blood grouping ab initio. Where there is conflicting testimony the acceptance by the jury of testimony presented by either side is binding on us. If Dr. Guy was correct, she was able to arrive at a highly accurate, untainted result. If government experts were correct, no such result could ever have been reached, no matter how the evidence was handled. The jury believed the latter. We have no basis to upset the jury's finding, and we hold that it was arrived at fairly. [16] Moreover, even if we agreed with appellant that this evidence was mishandled, the other evidence against him  tests from other stained items, fingerprints, palm print, fiber samples, statement to co-workers, presence and opportunity  renders any error committed harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). [17] Finally, rejection of appellant's contentions with respect to this issue is, of course, fatal to his assertion that the government violated his rights to discovery under Super.Ct.Cr.R. 16.