Department of Social Services Ex Rel. Wolf v. McCarty

506 N.W.2d 144, 1993 S.D. LEXIS 128, 1993 WL 370977
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 22, 1993
Docket17897
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 506 N.W.2d 144 (Department of Social Services Ex Rel. Wolf v. McCarty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Department of Social Services Ex Rel. Wolf v. McCarty, 506 N.W.2d 144, 1993 S.D. LEXIS 128, 1993 WL 370977 (S.D. 1993).

Opinions

HENDERSON, Justice.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY/ISSUES

Via a complaint filed August 7, 1990, Ros-lea Ann Wolf (Wolf) alleged that Appellant Robert R. McCarty (McCarty) was the father of E.V.W., born to Appellee Wolf on April 4, 1990. A January 7, 1992 jury trial found McCarty to be E.V.W.’s father. Thereafter, the trial court established McCarty’s child support obligations and awarded attorney fees to the state’s attorney representing the Department of Social Services on behalf of Wolf. On appeal, McCarty raises two issues:

I. Did the trial court err in refusing to allow evidence of McCarty’s sterility?
II. Can a part-time state’s attorney be awarded fees in a state-sponsored paternity suit?

Based upon our decision in Issue I, we reverse and remand. On Issue II, we hold that it is permissible, subject to our discussion below.

FACTS

Wolf gave birth to E.V.W. on April 4,1990 and identified three men as possible fathers. Genetic testing through DNA profiling eliminated two of the men from contention. DNA, as explained to the jury, is shorthand for Deoxyribonucleic Acid, the genetic material which carries the coded messages of heredity that determine the appearance and physiological characteristics of an individual. With a probability of paternity of 99.89%, McCarty could not be excluded as the biological father. A second examination of his blood revealed a 99.5% probability. Furthermore, Wolf had previously denied having sexual intercourse with anyone other than McCarty during the probable period of conception. Although McCarty admits that Wolf stayed at his home one night when she was intoxicated, he denies any sexual encounter, then or ever, with Wolf.

During 1982, when McCarty worked for the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), he was tortured by drug dealers. One such torture included the application of electrodes to his genitals, which he claims left him sterile. As this condition allegedly existed at the time of conception, he claims that he was incapable of impregnating Wolf. Although a medical expert was prepared to testify that such torture could have caused the sterility, the expert was not willing to testify to a medical certainty or probability that the condition existed at the time of the alleged conception.

McCarty’s sterility was confirmed prior to trial, however, he had no knowledge of this sterility prior to a medical examination in the fall of 1991. Despite fathering a child in April of 1978, he additionally claims that the court erred in presuming that he was still fertile in 1989.

DECISION

I. McCarty’s defense was improperly excluded.

Over twenty years ago, this Court established the realm of admissible medical expert testimony. In Koenig v. Weber, 84 S.D. 558, 174 N.W.2d 218 (1970), we held, “Medical experts are qualified to express their opinions based upon medical certainty or medical probability, but not upon possibility.” Accord Armstrong v. Minor, 323 N.W.2d 127 (S.D.1982); Bertness v. Hanson, 292 N.W.2d 316 (S.D.1980); Thomas v. St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, 283 N.W.2d 254 (S.D.1979). When a court-ordered examination confirmed that McCarty was presently sterile, the trial court ruled that expert medical testimony must establish with “reasonable medical certainty or medical probability” that McCarty was sterile at the time of conception.

Proposed medical testimony indicated that injuries McCarty received years prior to the conception possibly could have caused [146]*146sterility. However, McCarty conceded that the testimony could not meet the required burden of medical certainty or medical probability that McCarty was in fact sterile at the time of conception, let alone prior to 1991. Regardless, McCarty contends that because he has never had a vasectomy, has had no other children, and is presently sterile, he, therefore, has been sterile since the torture in 1982. This assumption is a gap which this Court cannot bridge. “Where the claimant’s medical experts are unwilling to express an opinion, this Court will not infer a medical prognosis.” Guthmiller v. S.D. Dept. of Transp., 502 N.W.2d 586, 589 (S.D.1993). Conversely, the trial court placed too great a restriction on the medical expert testimony. Although the trial court properly prohibited the expert from providing medical testimony that could not meet the evidentiary standard, it erroneously denied any mention of McCarty’s sterility defense. We note that a distinction exists.

In Zepp v. Hofman, 444 N.W.2d 28, 33 (S.D.1989), we permitted the medical expert, under the requisite standard, to give his “medical opinion as to whether the injuries were consistent with [being hit with a board].” Likewise, McCarty’s expert should be permitted to testify with medical certainty or medical probability as to whether sterility is an injury consistent with torture of the genitals. Afterward, the Zepp expert was asked:

Doctor, based upon a reasonable degree of medical certainty, are you of the opinion that Frank Zepp was hit in the face with a board?

As the proposed testimony indicates, a similar inquiry to McCarty’s expert would reveal that there can be no medical certainty of McCarty’s sterility prior to 1991. This differs from simply asking if the type of injury was probable. Accordingly, the trial court should have permitted McCarty the opportunity to plead his defense before the trier of fact, who will decide the ultimate issue.1 Any confusion perceived by the jury, as the Department of Social Services fears, may be remedied by the art of cross-examination.

Through two separate DNA tests, McCarty’s probability of paternity was determined to be in excess of 99%. Cross-examination of the DNA medical expert revealed that the probability would be the same even if McCarty had not had sex with Wolf, as McCarty so contends. DNA, the entire genetic blueprint for an individual, is extracted from samples of blood from the child. (Semen, saliva, skin, and hair follicle samples can also be used in DNA testing.) Thereafter, a “DNA profile” is developed by analyzing three to five locations in DNA where individual variations are common. Because offspring inherit roughly half their DNA from their mother and half from their father, this profile is then compared with DNA taken directly from the suspect father. See DNA Technology in Forensic Science (National Research Council, July 1992).2

In State v. Wimberly, 467 N.W.2d 499 (S.D.1991), we noted that the admissibility of [147]*147scientific evidence, such as DNA profiling, was governed by the standards set forth in Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C.Cir. 1923) and held that DNA testing meets the Frye test. Wimberly at 506.

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Department of Social Services Ex Rel. Wolf v. McCarty
506 N.W.2d 144 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1993)

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506 N.W.2d 144, 1993 S.D. LEXIS 128, 1993 WL 370977, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-social-services-ex-rel-wolf-v-mccarty-sd-1993.