Opinion ID: 1450354
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dr. Melekovets's Testimony.

Text: Jones had furnished a copy of Dr. Melekovets's one-page report to the Commonwealth as pretrial discovery several months before trial. The Commonwealth reciprocated with a copy of the two-page report of its DNA expert, Benedict Arrey. Arrey's report stated that [t]he human DNA recovered from the male fraction of the [v]aginal swab [taken from M.G.] . . . was a mixture of at least two contributors. [M.G.] and Floyd Jones III . . . could be contributors to the DNA mixture. . . . The expected frequency of possible contributors to the mixed profile in the male fraction is fewer than 1 in 15,000,000 (1 in 15 million) among Caucasian, Black[,] and Hispanic Americans. In contrast, Dr. Melekovets's report stated that he did not find any traces of the Y-chromosome or of the DNA profile from Exhibit 2A (bloodstain standard from Floyd Jones III) on the vaginal swabs from [M.G.]. The trial court allowed Dr. Melekovets to testify about the contents of his report. But the trial court did not allow Dr. Melekovets to testify about any perceived shortcomings in the Commonwealth's DNA expert's report or methodology because Jones had not informed the Commonwealth during discovery that he intended for Dr. Melekovets to criticize the Commonwealth's expert's methodologies. In other words, the trial court essentially confined Dr. Melekovets's testimony to the four corners of his report.