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ALTHOUGH THE DNA EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY A CRIMINALIST WAS IN PART TESTIMONIAL, THE DEFENDANT’S RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION WAS NOT VIOLATED AND THE EVIDENCE WAS PROPERLY ADMITTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department determined that, although the DNA evidence presented by a criminalist was in part testimonial, it was properly admitted:

At trial, the Supreme Court admitted DNA profiles and reports, as well as the testimony of an expert in DNA analysis, pertaining to the five victims and the defendant. The expert, Craig O'Connor, testified that he had a Ph.D. in genetics and laboratory sciences, and he was a criminalist level III at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. O'Connor testified that he was not the original criminalist on all of the individual cases. The other two analysts who worked on the cases “resigned in previous years to pursue other endeavors.” With regard to the case files that he took over from the analysts who resigned, O'Connor testified that he became the custodian of the case files and, in doing so, he “was required to review them all and look at all the paperwork and the reports and everything.” Moreover, O'Connor testified that he would “take all of the results and do the analysis and interpretations,” and he “review[ed] all the facts and all the data contained in all of the files.” When the prosecutor asked O'Connor if he had “review[ed] th[e] data and draw[n] [his] own independent conclusions,” O'Connor responded, “Yes, I reviewed the results that were obtained and also the reports, yes.” * * *

Here, the DNA evidence is, at least in part, testimonial … . However, O'Connor's testimony regarding his review and analysis of all of the case files indicated that he independently analyzed the raw data, as opposed to functioning as ” a conduit for the conclusions of others'” … . Moreover, unlike in other cases, the record here demonstrates that, to the extent that O'Connor was not the original criminalist assigned to any of the individual cases, the original criminalists had resigned and, thus, were unavailable … . Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly admitted the DNA profiles and reports and O'Connor's testimony. People v Pascall, 2018 NY Slip Op 06037, Second Dept 9-12-18

CRIMINAL LAW (ALTHOUGH THE DNA EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY A CRIMINALIST WAS IN PART TESTIMONIAL, THE DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION WAS NOT VIOLATED AND THE EVIDENCE WAS PROPERLY ADMITTED (SECOND DEPT))/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, EVIDENCE, ALTHOUGH THE DNA EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY A CRIMINALIST WAS IN PART TESTIMONIAL, THE DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION WAS NOT VIOLATED AND THE EVIDENCE WAS PROPERLY ADMITTED (SECOND DEPT))/TESTIMONIAL HEARSAY (ALTHOUGH THE DNA EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY A CRIMINALIST WAS IN PART TESTIMONIAL, THE DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION WAS NOT VIOLATED AND THE EVIDENCE WAS PROPERLY ADMITTED (SECOND DEPT))/CONFRONTATION, RIGHT TO  (ALTHOUGH THE DNA EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY A CRIMINALIST WAS IN PART TESTIMONIAL, THE DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION WAS NOT VIOLATED AND THE EVIDENCE WAS PROPERLY ADMITTED (SECOND DEPT))

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