Court Opinion

ID: 9695096
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:06:34.168652+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:08.260197
License: Public Domain

MEYER, Justice
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
I concur with the majority on all issues except the due process issue concerning the DNA evidence. On that issue, I would conclude that the admission in evidence of incomplete DNA results from the state’s *412PCR-STR testing violated due process where the state does not provide the defendant with (1) the genetic primer sequences used in the proprietary testing Mts, (2) a portion of the DNA sample for independent testing, or (3) notice that the sample will be exhausted in testing and an opportunity to observe the state’s testing procedure.
In considering the scope of our due process ruling in Traylor, it is important to recognize that in Traylor the DNA sample was less than six weeks old; there were no claims that it had been degraded by age, storage conditions or handling procedures; the DNA sample was of sufficient size and condition as to allow testing by both the Profiler and the Cofiler kits, providing interpretable results at all 13 loci tested by the combination of those two kits; the DNA sample was also of sufficient size to provide a portion to Traylor so his experts could conduct their own testing, both to verify the work of the BCA lab and to verify the reliability of the Profiler and Cofiler kits; and the DNA sample had not been subjected to the application of heat but had been extracted from a swab by a chemical process: See State v. Traylor, 656 N.W.2d 885, 900 (Minn.2003). Under these facts, we concluded that there had been no violation of due process, even though Traylor was not provided with the genetic primer sequences in the two kits, stating:
We agree with the district court. Due process requires that the defense have the same amount of information as the prosecution on a scientific test so that the defense is able to adequately cross-examine the prosecution’s experts. In this case, the BCA did not have Perkin-Elmer’s validation studies or the primer sequences when it performed DNA analysis using the kits. Instead, through the use of its own testing of the kits, the BCA validated that the kits produce reliable results. Traylor likewise could have obtained the kits and performed the same type of validation testing as the BCA laboratory. Moreover, Traylor could have perused any number of publicly available validation studies that have been performed on these kits since their inception. With the DAB standards and procedures to guide him, Traylor could have also questioned the BCA technicians about the procedures and methodology followed, their validation studies, and their interpretation of the results. Traylor did not need the primer sequences or unlimited access to Perkin-Elmer’s validation studies to do so. Finally, and importantly, there was a portion of the DNA sample at issue available for Traylor to perform his own tests, an opportunity Traylor did not pursue. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that Traylor’s due process right to a fair trial was not violated.
Id. at 899-900.
Our due process analysis in Traylor was crucially founded on the facts that Traylor had “the same amount of information as the prosecution” about the tests performed and, “importantly, there was a portion of the DNA sample at issue available for Traylor to perform his own tests, an opportunity Traylor did not pursue.” Id. at 900. These statements do not apply in Bailey’s case. The evidence about the age and condition of the DNA sample, the lack of notice to Bailey of testing by the state that destroyed the sample, and the use of a not yet validated Bunsen burner technique to remove the cover slip from the lab slide, when added to the unavailability of the genetic primer sequences of the Profiler kit, make Bailey’s due process argument considerably more pressing than Traylor’s. The due process concerns raised by the use of proprietary kits in PCR-STR testing did not disappear after our decision in Traylor. Our decision in that case only establishes that due process is satisfied *413where a defendant is given the same information that the BCA possesses and an opportunity to perform his or her own tests on a given sample. See id.
I conclude that the admission of the DNA evidence violated Bailey’s right to due process because Bailey was not allowed to examine the genetic primer sequences applied in the Profiler kit that was used by the state; the DNA sample was so degraded that only a partial profile could be obtained from 6 of the 10 loci tested; the sample was not large enough to allow testing of additional loci by a Cofiler kit; the sample was destroyed by the state’s testing so no part was available for independent testing by Bailey’s experts; and Bailey was not given notice of the destructive testing or an opportunity to have an expert observe the testing procedures. Accordingly, I would hold that, on the record before us, the DNA evidence is inadmissible. Such a holding would not foreclose the state from attempting to overcome some of these deficiencies for purposes of a new trial.