Opinion ID: 1506658
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 47

Heading: Dot-Intensity Analysis

Text: Defendant asserts that even if the results of the polymarker test are admissible, dot-intensity analysis, the State's method of interpreting the mixed-blood sample, is scientifically unreliable. The dissent likewise rejects dot-intensity analysis. Indeed, the dissent goes so far as to assert that if dot-intensity analysis is reliable, the results obtained would be inconsistent with defendant being the murderer. Post at 261, 699 A. 2d at 667. At the Rule 104 hearing, dot-intensity analysis was presented as an integral part of polymarker testing. The Rule 104 hearing involved consideration of oral testimony and written evidence on the polymarker test and dot-intensity analysis. Both the defense and the State considered dot-intensity analysis as an application of the polymarker test, not as an issue apart from polymarker testing. In holding that the results of polymarker testing were admissible, the trial court implicitly approved dot-intensity analysis, which was the only use of the polymarker test on which the State relied. Based on the record, as well as on posttrial publications and judicial opinions, we conclude that the trial court correctly allowed the State's experts to testify about dot-intensity analysis. In so concluding, we recognize that a court must examine each step of a scientific process or technique. Kelly, supra, 97 N.J. at 210, 478 A. 2d 364. Thus, we independently examine dot-intensity analysis to determine whether it has obtained sufficient acceptance to justify admission of its results into evidence.