Commonwealth v. Rosier

685 N.E.2d 739 (1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The Commonwealth hired Cellmark to do its DNA testing on two bloodstains taken from the undercarriage of the car, one bloodstain from the front tire on the passenger side, one stain from the passenger side of the quarter panel, and a thread like substance that appeared to be human tissue found on the undercarriage. There were compared with a blood sample taken from the victim and one taken from Rosier (D). Cellmark used PCR and issued a written report to the State Police. The report concluded that that the frequencies in the Caucasian and African American populations between the genotypes analyzed in the sample with those from the victim’s blood were 1 in 770,000 for Caucasians and 1 in 7.5 million for African Americans. Cellmark also tested three STR loci which in combination with the testing at the DQA1 and PM loci gave results from nine different loci. The STR testing was at issue in this case because Cellmark had done prior DNA testing on the samples submitted examining only DQA1 and PM loci and had concluded based on those results that the population frequencies between the Caucasian and African-American population were 1 in 5,500 and 1 in 11,000. It was the additional STR testing that increased the probabilities to the higher probabilities. Dr. Basten agreed that STR analysis made a significant difference in terms of the frequency in which the genetic markers would be expected to be seen within a population. D in a motion in limine did not challenge the collection and preservation of the samples, the quality control, the use of the PCR method, the reliability of the three test procedures, or the accuracy of the results. D’s counsel suggests that STR testing is unreliable because it is too new.