Reed v. Boozer

693 A.2d 233, 1997 Pa. Super. LEXIS 986, 1997 WL 205209
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 25, 1997
DocketNo. 00665
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 693 A.2d 233 (Reed v. Boozer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reed v. Boozer, 693 A.2d 233, 1997 Pa. Super. LEXIS 986, 1997 WL 205209 (Pa. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

TAMILIA, Judge:

John Harris Boozer appeals from the January 30, 1996 Order confirming a prior Order, issued on October 30,1995, which directed appellant to pay $75 per week in child support. The facts of this case are as follows.

On November 27, 1991, appellee filed an action against appellant for support of her son, Anthony S. Boozer. Appellant denied paternity and by Order dated February 13, 1992, the court ordered blood testing of the parties and the minor child. The testing did not exclude appellant from paternity.1 Rather, it indicated a 99.90% probability that appellant was the father of the child. A jury trial was conducted on November 30 and December 1, 1994. In support of the blood testing report, appellee presented the testimony of Ronald Barwick, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Department’ of Paternity Evaluation at Roche Biomedical Laboratories, which conducted the testing. Appellant defended on the basis that his identical twin brother fathered the child. At the close of trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of appellee, and the aforementioned child support Orders were entered.

On appeal, appellant asserts the following two claims:

I. Whether the trial court erred in permitting an expert witness to testify about laboratory results from tests which he did not perform, supervise or have personal knowledge about?
II. Whether the trial court erred in charging the jury that genetic test results are considered prima facie evidence of paternity, that the term “genetic tests” includes any blood or tissue testing proeess-[235]*235es used to confirm or exclude parentage, and that the blood test results in this ease should be considered prima facie evidence of paternity?

(Appellant’s brief at 5.)

This is the first time this Court has been called upon to consider the enlarged definition of genetic tests, enacted by the Legislature in 1994, which states: “ ‘Genetic Tests’. Includes any blood or tissue testing processes used to confirm or exclude parentage.”2 23 Pa.C.S. § 4302.

As to appellant’s first claim, we note that the admission of expert testimony is a matter for the trial court, and its decision will not be remanded, overruled or disturbed unless there was a clear abuse of discretion. Tyus v. Resta, 328 Pa.Super. 11, 476 A.2d 427 (1984). Preliminarily, our review of the record convinces us that Dr. Barwick provided an adequate foundation for the blood test results. At the outset, Dr. Barwick was qualified as an expert in blood testing, and was accepted as such by the court (N.T., 11/30/94, p. 6). Further, Dr. Barwick testified as follows:

Q. [COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE]: What are some of your duties as an Associate Director [of the Department of Paternity Evaluation at Roche Biomedical Laboratories]?
A. Well, it’s my job as Associate Director to help provide overall supervision of the department; to help decide on the procedures and protocols that are used in the testing of blood samples for patei'nity evaluation; to evaluate the results of those tests and to sign the reports indicating the results of those tests and then, when the occasion calls for it, to testify about those results in court cases such as this one.

(N.T. at 4.) Dr. Barwick also testified that he was an official custodian of records for Roche Biomedical Laboratories (N.T. at 15), and that he had “reviewed this report as it pertains to the laboratory records and it does accurately reflect what we did in the laboratory” (N.T. at 48).

In Mitchell v. Randall, 368 Pa.Super. 421, 534 A.2d 508 (1987), appellant challenged the admission of trial testimony from a supervisor of the lab which conducted blood testing. In affirming the trial court, a panel of this Court held:

Randall claims that the lower court erred in admitting the testimony of the medical expert because he did not actually perform the HLA blood test.
Our review of the record convinces us that an adequate foundation was laid for the introduction of the expert testimony. Appellant advances no case law or statute that would vitiate blood test results because the witness did not himself draw blood from the subjects or perform the tests but delegated these tasks to qualified technicians under his supervision. We find this issue to be without merit.

Id. at 427, 534 A.2d at 510. As his testimony indicates, Dr. Barwick not only supervised the lab, reviewed the test results in question and established the chain of custody, but he also was intimately familiar with, and helped to formulate, the procedui'es and protocols used to conduct the testing. In light of these facts, Dr. Barwick was properly permitted to testify concerning the test results and we reject appellant’s claim to the contrary. See Miller v. Kriner, 341 Pa.Super. 293, 491 A.2d 270 (1985) (testimony of supervisor and general supervisor of testing lab constitutes adequate foundation for the introduction of blood test results, where those supervisors programmed the computers used to calculate the results); and Commonwealth v. Khamphouseane, 434 Pa.Super. 93, 642 A.2d 490 (1994) (proper foundation laid through testimony of laboratory director); see also Rodgers v. Woodin, 448 Pa.Super. 598, 672 A.2d 814 (1996) (although foundation not challenged on appeal, testimony concerning test results [236]*236provided by Associate Director of Paternity Determination at Roche Laboratories).3

Appellant also objects to the following charge to the jury by the court:

I will recall that Dr. Barwick testified that the genetic test results of the plaintiff and defendant and child demonstrate that it is extremely likely that the defendant, or one sharing his genetic characteristics, is the father of the child. Under the law, genetic test results are considered prima facie evidence of paternity. The phrase genetic tests includes any blood or tissue testing processes used to confirm or exclude parentage. Thus, the tests in this case should be considered prima facie evidence of paternity.
Therefore, if you determine that the defendant has not proved by any credible evidence to rebut the conclusion of the genetic test results, and if you disbelieve the testimony that someone else may have been the father who had exactly the same genetic characteristics, then it is extremely unlikely — I’m sorry, then you are required to find that he is the father. In other words, if you disbelieve the testimony that the child may be the child of his identical twin and you’re convinced of the accuracy and the testimony of the expert, then the test results would establish a prima facie case that the defendant is the father. Unless you are presented with credible evidence to the contrary, you must adopt the genetic test results and find the defendant is the child’s father.

(N.T., 12/1/94, p. 66-67.)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
693 A.2d 233, 1997 Pa. Super. LEXIS 986, 1997 WL 205209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reed-v-boozer-pasuperct-1997.