Opinion ID: 1285369
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Determination of reliability

Text: In general, `[t]he reliability of the methods and techniques used for typing and determination of genetic markers in blood and body fluid stains has been well established by appropriate and properly controlled scientific investigations.' Note at 784 (quoting Report of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Ad Hoc Committee on Genetic Marker Typing 3 (March 23, 1984)). Those basic methods are not at issue. Rather, it is the effect of environmental factors on typing results that poses the problem. Before addressing that problem, however, we must consider the initial question of what constitutes the particular field within which the scientific technique must be widely accepted as reliable. According to testimony, electrophoretic testing of dried bloodstains is used mainly in connection with forensics. Taking forensics as the relevant field, then, those actually involved with electrophoretic typing of dried bloodstains constitute the experts who must widely share the view that the results are reliable. Turning to the record made at trial, the State offered testimony of six witnesses who worked in forensic laboratories or engaged in forensic teaching, research, and analysis and who had had experience with electrophoresis on dried bloodstains. They testified not only with respect to their own opinions, but also with respect to acceptance by others in the field. The one witness presented by the defense had never done electrophoresis on dried bloodstains. Arguably, the defense witness was not an expert in the particular field as is required by the Mack/Frye standard. We do not need to decide that issue, however, because the widely shared view of all the experts who testified was that electrophoretic testing of dried aged bloodstains was reliable as long as certain standards were met and controls applied. Their consensus accords with the holdings of most other jurisdictions that have considered the issue. See, e.g., People v. Reilly, 196 Cal.App.3d 1127, 1131, 242 Cal. Rptr. 496, 498 (1987) (holding that electrophoretic testing of dried bloodstains met Frye standard and technique was properly used in case); Annotation, Admissibility, in Criminal Cases, of Evidence of Electrophoresis of Dried Evidentiary Bloodstains, 66 A.L.R.4th 588, 593-601 (1988) (eleven of twelve jurisdictions addressing the issue of admissibility of electrophoresis test results held it admissible). Defendant relies not so much on the record made at the mid-trial Frye hearing, as on People v. Young, 425 Mich. 470, 391 N.W.2d 270 (Mich.1986), the only jurisdiction to find electrophoresis test results inadmissible. The Young decision is flawed from the Minnesota perspective because of the court's requirement that witnesses qualified to testify as members of the relevant scientific community must be `disinterested and impartial' experts whose 'livelihood [is] not intimately connected with the new technique.' Id., 425 Mich. at 481, 483, 391 N.W.2d at 274, 276 (quoting People v. Tobey, 401 Mich. 141, 147, 145, 257 N.W.2d 537, 539 (1977); People v. Barbara, 400 Mich. 352, 358, 255 N.W.2d 171, 180 (1977). As a result of this requirement, the Young court did not consider testimony by three prosecution witnesses it classified as technicians, but did consider testimony by three geneticists unfamiliar with electrophoresis of evidentiary bloodstains. Young, 425 Mich. at 481, 485, 391 N.W.2d at 274, 276-77. Minnesota's interpretation of Frye requires experts in its field and has no such narrow requirement of disinterestedness. The opinion is also unpersuasive because it is a 3-2 decision, with two justices not participating in the decision. The strong dissent disagreed with the narrowness of the rule requiring disinterested and impartial experts and with the interpretation of earlier Michigan precedent as requiring disinterested scientists. Id. 425 Mich. at 511-12, 391 N.W.2d at 289 (J. Boyle dissenting with J. Riley concurring in dissent). Finally, the majority opinion in Young relies heavily on the testimony of Dr. Grunbaum. Yet Dr. Grunbaum is the first and only expert actually involved with electrophoretic typing of bloodstains to attack its reliability. Note, The Admissibility of Electrophoretic Methods of Genetic Marker Bloodstain Typing Under the Frye Standard, 11 Okla. City U.L.Rev. 773, 791 (1986). As the court in Reilly pointed out, the thrust of Dr. Grunbaum's opposition to the reliability of electrophoretic typing of evidentiary bloodstains is concern with the effects of aging, improper preservation and crime scene contaminates on the results of the tests. Reilly, 196 Cal.App.3d at 1141, 242 Cal.Rptr. at 505. These concerns have been met. Case law explains that the overall testing procedure rendering electrophoresis reliable already deals with the problem of aging and contamination through the use of proper procedures by well-trained analysts who are aware of the published literature warning of typing problems. See, e.g., Id. The record here echoes other case law.