United States v. Major ANTIWAN M. HENNING

CourtArmy Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedSeptember 3, 2015
DocketARMY MISC 20150410
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Major ANTIWAN M. HENNING (United States v. Major ANTIWAN M. HENNING) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Army Court of Criminal Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Major ANTIWAN M. HENNING, (acca 2015).

Opinion

UNITED STATES ARMY COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS Before COOK 1, HAIGHT, and WEIS 2 Appellate Military Judges

UNITED STATES, Appellant v. Major ANTIWAN M. HENNING United States Army, Appellee

ARMY MISC 20150410

Headquarters, Combined Arms Center & Fort Leavenworth Charles L. Pritchard, Jr., Military Judge

For Appellee: Captain Jennifer K. Beerman, JA (argued); Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan F. Potter, JA; Major Aaron R. Inkenbrandt, JA; Captain Jennifer K. Beerman, JA (on brief).

For Appellant: Captain Jihan Walker, JA (argued); Major A.G. Courie III, JA; Major Janae M. Lepir, JA; Captain Jihan Walker, JA (on brief).

3 September 2015

--------------------------------------------------------------------- MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ACTION ON APPEAL BY THE UNITED STATES FILED PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 62, UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE ----------------------------------------------------------------------

HAIGHT, Judge:

BACKGROUND

Although the science involved in this government appeal is beyond the ken of even relatively experienced jurists, as well as the typical layperson, the facts are simple.

The alleged victim, SLN, reported that appellee raped her. Major (MAJ) Henning denied any and all sexual contact with SLN. Genetic material was

1 Senior Judge COOK took final action in this case prior to his departure from the court and retirement. 2 Judge WEIS took final action in this case while on active duty. HENNING—ARMY MISC 20150410

recovered from the underwear SLN wore the evening in question. The Kansas City Police Crime Laboratory (KCPCL) conducted deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing on that genetic material. After testing and analysis, the KCPCL reported that MAJ Henning could not be excluded as a potential minor contributor to the tested sample. Furthermore, the KCPCL is of the opinion that approximately 1 in 220 unrelated individuals in the general population would be a match to the minor contributor’s profile. Major Henning was charged with the rape of, and other sexual crimes against, SLN.

The defense moved to “prohibit the government from offering any expert testimony concerning MAJ Henning being a possible contributor of genetic material recovered from the underwear of [SLN].” The defense asserted that the DNA analysis conducted by the KCPCL and which the government seeks to introduce “does not meet the requirements for expert testimony established by [Military Rule of Evidence] 702, United States v. Houser [36 M.J. 392 (C.M.A. 1993)], and Daubert v. Merrell Dow [Pharms., 509 U.S. 579 (1993)].” After an Article 39(a) session, the military judge granted the defense motion and ruled that “[e]vidence that [MAJ Henning] is a possible contributor to the genetic material recovered from [SLN]’s underwear is excluded.” The government, pursuant to Rule for Courts- Martial [hereinafter R.C.M.] 908 and Article 62, UCMJ, appeals the decision of the military judge.

After oral argument and consideration of the government appeal, we find the military judge abused his discretion in his ruling to exclude.

ARTICLE 39(a), UCMJ, HEARING

For purposes of this motion, the defense called Ms. Jessica Hanna, the KCPCL employee who conducted the DNA testing in this case. From a sample identified during serological screening of SLN’s underwear, Ms. Hanna extracted DNA, amplified and analyzed that DNA, and was able to identify a “major profile” from a female as well as a “minor profile” from a male. This minor profile or genetic information revealed “five alleles at four different locations [loci].” Major Henning’s DNA also has those same five alleles at those same four loci. Therefore, he cannot be excluded as a potential contributor. 3 Then, Ms. Hanna applied a statistical formula labeled an “alleles present statistic” in order to determine the weight of Major Henning’s DNA match or, in other words, the frequency of those in the general population with DNA that could possibly match the minor profile. The calculated frequency was 1 in 220.

3 This is particularly pertinent as, according to KCPCL, the two other males present in SLN’s home on the night in question were both excluded after comparison to the DNA profile.

2 HENNING—ARMY MISC 20150410

The defense also called Dr. Krane, an expert in the field. While having significant concerns with the KCPCL’s calculated ratio of 1 in 220, Dr. Krane acknowledged that it was “factually correct” that Major Henning’s genetic information does match the minor profile to the extent that the profile only revealed five alleles at four loci. In other words, Dr. Krane confirmed that Major Henning’s DNA does, in fact, have those same identified five alleles at those four identified specific loci. Furthermore, Dr. Krane did not dispute that the minor profile derived from the genetic information recovered from the sample found in SLN’s underwear accurately reflected the presence of those five alleles at those four loci. Therefore, Dr. Krane did not question any of the scientific testing performed or the resulting data; his critique dealt with the appropriate statistical significance that should be attached to those results.

Dr. Krane identified various bases for his overall concern. First, the minor profile at issue was derived from an exceedingly small amount of DNA. Second, similar to the first basis, five points of comparison does not provide much information concerning the other points where Henning’s DNA might not match. Third, the KCPCL’s “alleles present statistic” assumes allelic dropout, 4 because if allelic dropout had not occurred, then Major Henning would effectively be excluded. But, Dr. Krane later acknowledged twice that “the less template DNA that you start with, the more likely locus dropout and allelic dropout there will be.” Fourth, as the statistical analysis was applied to a “minor profile” with low peaks, as opposed to a “major profile” with high peaks, the interpretation thereof must not only account for allelic dropout and drop-in but also take into consideration “stutter peaks” and how those stutters could possibly be allelic peaks of a “minor contributor.” For this instance, Dr. Krane testified that the 1 in 220 statistic is “very weak by DNA profiling standards . . . but that number would have been less impressive still if those stutter peaks had been added into the calculation.” Finally, Dr. Krane is of the opinion that in scenarios such as the present, where there is a combination of the two factors of “unknown number of contributors” and “possible or assumed allelic dropout,” “then all bets are off” and the safer course of action would be to report the findings as “inconclusive.”

Succinctly, when asked what conclusions could be drawn from the results of the KCPCL’s DNA testing in this case, Dr. Krane stated:

What I would prefer to say is that there are essentially three ways that one might look at such a circumstance. If an individual has two alleles and yet only one is observed at that locus in an evidence sample, one might conclude that the individual cannot be excluded because dropout

4 Allelic dropout is the failure to detect an allele within a sample or failure to amplify an allele during the polymerase chain reaction process.

3 HENNING—ARMY MISC 20150410

had occurred.

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United States v. Major ANTIWAN M. HENNING, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-major-antiwan-m-henning-acca-2015.