Opinion ID: 1401004
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Introduction of DNA Evidence and Lack of Daubert Hearing

Text: During the guilt phase, the state introduced the results of a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test performed on blood stains found on various pieces of evidence, including the black aluminum baseball bat, shoes, sweatpants, a QuikTrip jacket, a Nike jacket, a paper bag, a latex glove, and a steering wheel. Tr. trans. 2/12/97 at 257. As the state's expert, Cindy Brown, a criminalist with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, (OSBI), explained, the PCR test is a method used to replicate DNA which can then be typed. [6] United States v. Beasley, 102 F.3d 1440, 1445 (8th Cir.1996); David H. Kaye & George F. Sensabaugh, Jr., Reference Guide on DNA Evidence, in Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence 485, 493 n. 32 (2d ed.2000); see also Tr. trans. 2/12/97, at 263-270. The PCR tests demonstrated that Yost's blood was on all of those items. Tr. trans. 2/12/97, at 260. Mr. Wilson argues that the admission of the PCR DNA test results without a Daubert hearing violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). He also argues that the State did not lay the proper foundation to admit this evidence, nor did it properly lay the foundation to qualify its expert witness. Defense counsel did not make these objections at trial. The OCCA found that the use of the PCR test did not amount to plain error. Wilson I, 983 P.2d at 460-61. The district court affirmed. Wilson III, 2006 WL 2289777, at . As a general matter, federal habeas corpus relief does not lie to review state law questions about the admissibility of evidence. . . . Moore v. Marr, 254 F.3d 1235, 1246 (10th Cir.2001) (internal citations omitted). Absent a showing that the admission of the evidence violated a specific constitutional guarantee, a federal court on habeas review will not disturb the state court's evidentiary ruling unless it was so grossly prejudicial that it fatally infected the trial and denied the fundamental fairness that is the essence of due process. Fox v. Ward, 200 F.3d 1286, 1296 (10th Cir.2000) (quoting Williamson v. Ward, 110 F.3d 1508, 1522 (10th Cir.1997)); Milone v. Camp, 22 F.3d 693, 702 (7th Cir. 1994). Because Daubert does not set any specific constitutional floor on the admissibility of scientific evidence, the only relevant question is whether the PCR test rendered the trial fundamentally unfair. Milone, 22 F.3d at 702; see also Norris v. Schotten, 146 F.3d 314, 335 (6th Cir.1998). The introduction of this evidence did not violate traditional notions of due process. Numerous federal and state courts as well as scientific investigators have found that PCR DNA analysis is reliable. See, e.g., United States v. Wright, 215 F.3d 1020, 1027 (9th Cir.2000); United States v. Shea, 159 F.3d 37, 41 (1st Cir.1998); United States v. Lowe, 145 F.3d 45, 51 (1st Cir. 1998); Beasley, 102 F.3d at 1448; United States v. Hicks, 103 F.3d 837, 844-45 (9th Cir.1996); State v. Hill, 257 Kan. 774, 895 P.2d 1238, 1246-47 (1995); Commonwealth v. Rosier, 425 Mass. 807, 685 N.E.2d 739, 743 (1997); George Bundy Smith & Janet A. Gordon, The Admission of DNA Evidence in State and Federal Courts, 65 Fordham L.Rev. 2465, 2470 (1997) (noting that PCR analysis has received overwhelming acceptance in the scientific community and the courts.). Mr. Wilson has offered no reason to believe these holdings were in error. Mr. Wilson's claim that Cindy Brown was unqualified to testify as a DNA expert is similarly meritless. She had worked as a criminalist with OSBI for seven and a half years. She holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and received training in DNA testing from OSBI and from the FBI. Before Mr. Wilson's trial, she had testified in about a dozen other trials, six times as a DNA analyst. Mr. Wilson has not demonstrated any error in the admission of Ms. Brown's testimony, much less that the admission of the . . . evidence rendered the proceeding fundamentally unfair. Fox, 200 F.3d at 1297.