Opinion ID: 848755
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The DNA and Serological Evidence

Text: In the early hours of March 22, 1995, bartender Sharon Watson was stabbed to death during a robbery at a bar. Hattie Mae Tanner first became a suspect in the case when the police learned that she spent the evening with a man who was one of the last people to see the victim alive. When questioned by the police, defendant implicated herself. She admitted that a knife found at the bar look[ed] like one of [her] knives because of its unique characteristics. She also explained that her fingerprints would be on the knife because she had handled it three or four weeks before the homicide. Also, defendant admitted that she was on the bar premises that evening. The physical evidence collected from the bar included the knife, a bloodstained napkin, a diluted bloodstain on the sink directly behind the bar, a bloodstained cloth, and, on the victim's shirt, six bloodstains. The prosecutor arranged for DNA and serological analyses of this evidence. The DNA evidence excluded defendant. [2] Some evidence that could not be tested for DNA was subjected to serological testing for both blood type and phosphoglucomutase (PGM), an enzyme found in human blood. [3] This testing established that the diluted bloodstain found on the bar sink was of the same blood type and PGM subtype as defendant's blood. The prosecution's expert clarified, however, that a comparison of the two blood profiles did not confirm that the blood was defendant's. Rather, the evidence established that defendant and about four percent of the African-American population have the same blood profile. The prosecution's serology expert testified that African-Americans constituted twenty-six percent of the United States population of 280 million people, and that [p]ossibly millions would have the same blood type and PGM subtype as defendant. [4]