Court Opinion

ID: 9703517
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:59:33.324987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:11:49.862265
License: Public Domain

*341TAMILIA, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent as I believe the majority has misconstrued the effect of the Uniform Blood Test Act’s, 23 Pa.C.S. § 5104, limitation on retesting and has, by implication, overruled Koleski v. Park, 363 Pa.Super. 22, 525 A.2d 405 (1987), which stated the correct legal standard. The fact that a new trial was granted cannot be construed to mean that a second blood test was permissible when the validity of the first test was never questioned. The majority, in a purely subjective finding, does not construe the second test to be harassment despite the fact that without procedural or technical error in the first test, it would permit a second test to take advantage of a more definitive scientific measurement.
When application of statutes result in a conflict between them, the Statutory Construction Act, 1 Pa.C.S. § 1932, Statutes in pari materia, requires that they be read in such a manner, if possible, to eliminate any conflict. The introduction of genetic testing, pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S. § 4343, Paternity (as amended 1989, Dec. 20, P.L. 654, No. 81, § 1, immd. effective) did not overrule or make inoperative the Uniform Blood Test Act. Indeed, as both laws are contained in the Domestic Relations Code, it is irrational to determine that the taking of blood (as opposed to the testing itself) was subject to limitations under one procedure but not under the other.
In what appears to be revisionist action, the majority strongly attempts to disregard the unequivocal language of Koleski, which is founded on constitutional provisions to prevent harassment, and to go around it by not overruling it. Koleski must either be overruled or it must be followed. Koleski makes no distinction between the various tests utilized in determining the issue of paternity, whether it be A-B-O, M-N, Rh-Hr blood groupings, HLA, human leukocyte antigen, or DNA, the genetic test. The issue is not whether new evidence would be available by a different test but whether multiple testing is permissible under any circumstances unless the initial testing was in some form technically defective and this was determined in a fact finding hearing by the court. The fact that one test as opposed to another will be more probative of paternity has nothing to do with the right of the *342state to impose two or more blood tests on a defendant when the original blood test was not proven to be defective. The use of the HLA test results in the retrial, with proper jury instructions, would most likely have achieved the same results as the more definitive genetic DNA test. To permit the second test and to admit its results just because it was more certain simply means that this Court accepts an invasive procedure which violates due process as detailed in Koleski because it approves of the result.
No area of domestic relations has been met with greater scrutiny than paternity proceedings. While in the foreseeable future DNA testing holds the promise of certainty in paternity disputes, there are still sufficient questions to be resolved concerning the indexing of DNA paternity probabilities to make premature the more extravagant claims.
In an article titled D.N.A Paternity Probabilities by D.H. Kaye, Family Law Quarterly, Vol. 24, 1991, the author states:
Some of the advertising literature of companies marketing DNA tests or products endorses this notion that the results are “conclusive,” with a “[t]hirty-billion-to-one accuracy.”
These are heady claims that can be expected to impress attorneys and courts. “Conclusive” proof would spare courts and attorneys the agony of probabilities and other numbers associated with conventional genetic testing for paternity, and it would expeditiously resolve much contentious litigation over child support, inheritance, immigration and sexual assault. However, the field of scientific evidence is littered with the deflated hopes and assurances of would-be fingerprinters. Surely, in any particular case, the genetic evidence might amount to something less than conclusive proof either because the laboratory personnel have not found what they think they’ve found, or because the findings, while accurate enough, do not justify the inference of paternity with certainty.
Id. at 281.
After pursuing an extremely technical analysis of the procedures and scientific and statistical data that are involved in DNA testing, the author concludes:
*343Claims in the popular press and a few court opinions that DNA “fingerprints” constitute evidence of identity in paternity and other cases pose a danger of misunderstanding. DNA typing is not a single procedure that yields equally revealing results in all paternity cases. There are a variety of methods already in routine use, and the application of other techniques can be anticipated. Some methods entail a greater chance of error in the “typing” than others, while the “types” found in some forms of analysis are more probative. Thus, within the forensic armamentarium of DNA tests are methods that can give rise to immensely powerful evidence for or against paternity as well as methods that can yield less impressive, but still helpful, results.
Id. at 303.
Even the legislative determination in 23 Pa.C.S. § 4343, “(c) Genetic tests____ 2) Genetic test results shall be considered prima facie evidence of paternity ...” is subject to qualification based upon the reliability of the results in accordance with the techniques used. Within the past year, there was serious question of the reliability of DNA testing in sexual assault cases, which called into question the sufficiency of the evidence used to convict numerous people throughout the country. We cannot justify the result in permitting the introduction of the test in this case, because its result was statistically so certain, even if it is in the interest of the public and the individuals involved to have this certainty. As indicated above, there is still scientific question as to the validity of those results. Above all, we cannot ignore the holding in Koleski, which unequivocally prevents retesting unless there was a defect in the procedure, simply to allow another test which produces a more certain result. The language in Koleski allows for no interpretation or distinguishment such as propounded by the majority. Judge Beck’s attempt to reinterpret Koleski in light of the facts in this case is totally unacceptable because, while she authored the Opinion, she cannot speak for Judges Hester and Roberts who joined in that Opinion. It is inconceivable that she would now be able to say what would have been that panels decision if they had *344before them the facts in this case as well as the facts in Koleski to consider. To make such a retroactive revision undermines the integrity of our Opinions and turns them into conjectures rather than guides to the Bench and Bar.
In Koleski, Judge Beck, speaking for the majority, stated:
In sum, we reiterate our belief, first expression in Corra v. Coll, 305 Pa.Super. 179, 193-194, 451 A.2d 480, 488 (1982), that “[t]here is no situation of more monumental importance, or more worthy of due process protection, than the creation of a parent-child relationship.” We find that a hearing is the best forum for making the showing that the first blood tests were inaccurate. Requiring this showing before a second blood extraction will be ordered protects the parties’ Fourth Amendment rights and restricts the potential for harassment, but does not prevent a party from obtaining further blood testing where necessary to an accurate determination of paternity.
Id., 363 Pa.Super. at 33, 525 A.2d at 410.
Judge Perezous was following the precise mandate of Koleski in refusing to admit the second blood test. Nothing the majority has written convinces me that he was wrong and there is justification for permitting a second blood test. A new trial is not a basis for requiring a second test without a hearing or showing that the first test was defective because it involves the same parties, the same issues and the same blood withdrawal. I would affirm on the excellent Opinion of the trial court.