Opinion ID: 2494563
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: FBI/FDLE Protocols

Text: Taylor asserts that the FBI/FDLE protocols, allegedly not provided by the State until postconviction litigation, established that Dr. Pollock either changed the protocol or violated the protocol in his conclusions. The only violation identified by Taylor, however, is the fact that the FBI protocols utilized five to eight probes, while Dr. Pollock only used four. This violation, according to the defense's expert, undermined the reliability of the DNA evidence. During the evidentiary hearing, Dr. Pollock acknowledged that he deviated from the FBI protocols. The only evidence presented by Taylor during the evidentiary hearing that directly challenged Dr. Pollock's ultimate findings, however, was the testimony of Dr. Libby, whom the postconviction court explicitly determined to be unreliable. Although the postconviction court did not examine this evidence in the context of a Brady or Giglio violation, it still assessed the credibility of Dr. Libby with regard to Dr. Pollock's ultimate findings. The postconviction court considered, and rejected, the relevance of the FBI/FDLE protocols in the ineffective assistance of counsel context. This Court will defer to the factual findings of the postconviction court on this issue as this Court does not substitute its judgment for that of the postconviction court on questions of the credibility of witnesses and the appropriate weight to be given to the evidence. See Lowe v. State, 2 So.3d at 30 (citing Blanco, 702 So.2d at 1252). Even if we assume that the State inadvertently failed to disclose these protocols, in light of the trial court's findings of fact, the alleged violations cannot reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict. Smith, 931 So.2d at 796 (quoting Strickler, 527 U.S. at 290, 119 S.Ct. 1936) (articulating the materiality prong of Brady ). Further, there is no reasonable possibility that the allegedly false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury. See id. (articulating the materiality prong of a Giglio claim). Accordingly, this subclaim fails under the materiality prongs of both Brady and Giglio.