J.H.H. v. State

897 So. 2d 419
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 30, 2004
DocketCR-02-1752
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 897 So. 2d 419 (J.H.H. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.H.H. v. State, 897 So. 2d 419 (Ala. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

SHAW, Judge.

The appellant, J.H.H., was indicted for, and convicted of, burglary in the first degree, a violation of § 13A-7-5, Ala.Code 1975; attempted rape in the first degree, a violation of §§ 13A-6-61 and 13A-4-2, Ala. Code 1975; and sexual abuse in the first degree, a violation of § 13A-6-66, Ala. Code 1975. J.H.H. was sentenced, as a habitual felony offender, to life imprisonment for the burglary conviction, to life imprisonment for the attempted-rape conviction, and to 30 years’ imprisonment for the sexual-abuse conviction. The life sentences were to run consecutively and the 30-year sentence was to run concurrently with the first life sentence.

At trial, the State presented DNA evidence obtained from scrapings taken from the victim’s fingernails.1 The only issue raised on appeal is whether the trial court abused its discretion when it overruled J.H.H.’s objection to the admission of this DNA evidence. Specifically, J.H.H. contends that DNA evidence was not admissible because, he says, “it is clear from the testimony presented in support of its admission that it completely fails the reliability prong of the Daubert [v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993)] test.” (J.H.H.’s brief at p. 14.)

We note that J.H.H.’s first trial in September 2002 ended in a mistrial when the jury told the trial court that it was hopelessly deadlocked and was unable to reach a verdict. At the beginning of his second trial in May 2003, the parties stipulated that “all of the evidence heard in the [Ex parte] Perry[, 586 So.2d 242 (Ala.1991)] hearing of the previous trial of this case would be incorporated into the proceedings in this case as if they had been conducted herein.”2 (R. 137.)

On appeal, J.H.H. argues the following:

“In the present case, it is clear that the proffered evidence failed to meet the reliability standard of the Daubert test. At the time of the testing performed in this case, the State Crime Lab [Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences laboratory] had lost its accreditation [from the National Forensic Science Technology Center], According to the testimony of the State’s witness, the loss of accreditation was due to two issues within the lab itself. First, the director of the lab lacked the necessary educational credentials to hold that position. Further, there was no written training manual which outlined the training procedures required to certify new laboratory technicians. While this issue had been corrected prior to this trial, it clearly calls into question the proficiency and testing methodology present at the time the analysis in this case was performed.
“... Given the question raised as to the reliability of [the DNA] evidence by the State’s own witness, it is clear that [421]*421the evidence should not have been allowed.”

(J.H.H.’s brief at p. 20.)

In addressing J.H.H.’s argument on appeal, the State asserts the following:

“The Daubert standard has been adopted by the State of Alabama and its two-part analysis is the criteria for the admissibility of DNA evidence in the State of Alabama. Under the test, the State must show that (1) the theory and the technique on which the proffered DNA evidence is based is reliable and (2) the theory and the technique on which the proffered DNA evidence is based are relevant to the understanding of the evidence or to determine a fact in issue. [J.H.H.] does not challenge the relevancy requirement. Only if a party challenges the performance of a reliable and relevant technique and shows that the performance was so particularly and critically deficient that it undermined the reliability of the technique will evidence that is otherwise reliable be deemed inadmissible.
“The reliability requirement requires a party proffering the scientific evidence to establish that the evidence constitutes scientific knowledge. The trial court focuses its inquiry on the expert’s principles and methodology, not on the conclusions they generate. Thus, the reliability inquiry addresses the scientific validity of the principle asserted, that is, whether the principle supports what it purports to show.
“The accreditation of the laboratory was deficient because the technical leader had not completed required educational prerequisites. Additionally, the laboratory did not have a training manual for new technicians.... Thus, unless [J.H.H.] proved the performance of the test was affected by the lack of accreditation to the point that the performance was particularly and critically deficient and undermined the reliability of the technique, the tests were admissible.
“None of the factors that were deficient in the accreditation process affected the methods or the performance of the DNA tests. The same tests and methods were used before and after accreditation [was] lost and reinstated. The accreditation body found no deficiencies in any of the tests conducted by the laboratory. At best, the deficiencies of the State laboratory could only be seen as ‘technical’ deficiencies. The lack of [accreditation] went to the weight of the evidence and not to its admissibility. This is in accord with other state and federal jurisdictions addressing this specific issue.
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“... Specifically, [J.H.H.] argues that the State crime lab was not accredited when it performed part of the DNA testing in the present case and the lack of accreditation called into question the proficiency and the testing methodology used by the lab in performing the test. Matters concerning accreditation address the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility.
“The Alabama Supreme Court in Turner v. State, 746 So.2d 355 (Ala.1998), set out the guidelines for the admission of DNA results. The court stated:
“ ‘[I]f the admissibility of DNA evidence is contested, the trial court must hold a hearing, outside the presence of the jury, and, pursuant to § 36-18-30, determine whether the proponent of the evidence sufficiently establishes affirmative answers to these two questions:
“ ‘I. Are the theory and the technique (i.e., the principle and the methodology) on which the prof[422]*422fered DNA forensic evidence is based “reliable”?
“ ‘II. Are the theory and the technique (i.e., the principle and the methodology) on which the proffered DNA evidence is based “relevant” to understanding the evidence or to determining a fact in issue?
“ ‘Trial courts should use the flexible Daubert analysis in making the “reliability” (scientific validity) assessment. In making that assessment, the courts should employ the following factors: (1) testing; (2) peer review; (3) rate of errors; and (4) general acceptance.
“ ‘Trial courts should make the “relevance” assessment by addressing the “fit” between what the scientific theory and technique are supposed to show and what must be shown to resolve the factual dispute at trial. Whether otherwise reliable testing procedures were performed without error in a particular case goes to the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility.

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Related

JHH v. State
897 So. 2d 419 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
897 So. 2d 419, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jhh-v-state-alacrimapp-2004.