Kammer v. Young

73 Md.App. 565, 535 A.2d 936 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Young (P) gave birth in May 1982. She claimed that Kammer (D) was the only man with whom she had had intercourse in the year prior to the birth. D claimed that he had not had intercourse with P during the 15 month prior to the birth. The court found that D was the father of P's child. Part of the evidence against D was the results of a blood test. The blood test complied with the statute governing the admissibility of blood tests to establish paternity. The formula used to calculate statistical probability assumed a prior probability of .5 and established a 99.78% possibility that D was the father of P's child. D appealed, arguing that even if the blood test complied with statute, the admission of any opinion evidence concerning statistical probability of parenthood violates that due process provisions of the federal and state constitutions.