2011.06.16 TRIAL Day Twenty (Morning Session)

[Emeralgem]

My O My where are we going with all this? Anyone have a clue?

 

[Curious Me]

JB reminding the jurors that duct tape can be applied to someone's face. Is he working for the State?

 

[LyndyLoo]

Will the Duct tape evidence have to be thrown out due to contamination??

But wasnt the DuCt Tape admitted more for where it was found since no forensics ala finger prints nor DNA was found..likely due to is 6 month exposure to the elements..not to mention underwater for months!!

I wonder if they found some critters DNA on it??:floorlaugh:..Oh never mind..Forensics on Duct tape is not evidenciary so dont see how it could be thrown out..JMOO

 

[TakeNote]

side bar #5......i think.....my brain is mush now.....

 

[mombomb]

DIRECT EXAMINATION OF HEATHER SEUBERT BY JB - continued

3/19/09 report - Q62-64 (S-302) - duct tape items received from the ME

Tape was examined - 3 pieces. First exam was done on top (silver non-adhesive) side of tape, cotton swab was swabbed to collect possible biological material.

Any distinctive markings on top? Henkel logo was on top.

Swab of top side of tape - DNA typing was performed and a DNA profile was generated but was below the interpretation threshold of the FBI lab. DNA typing result was obtained at 6 of the 9 locations tested.

2 amplification kits are used to come up with the 13.

JB wants her to write on easel - she did not feel she needed to - JB wanted jury to raise hands if they wanted her to - Judge said NO.

Witness now writing on paper -

13 locations on the DNA - they are selected because they are very different in different individual. 46 chromosomes - 23 from mother, 23 from father. One kit has 9 locations. She listed the 9 locations on the paper in the Profiler Plus ID kit. In her analysis she looks at the peaks in these locations. She would then populate the table which would give the profile.

If your parents have the same STR type - then you will have only one peak.

If there is enough DNA for a result - there would be 2 peaks at each result.

You can have a DNA profile at just one location - you don't need all 13.

Second test has another series of targeted locations.

Regarding the duct tape - the non-sticky side revealed that there was an STR typing result obtained, but it fell below her reporting threshold. She then wrote out the profile, noting it was below the threshold.

To exclude someone, it could take just one marker. In what she obtained, she could exclude ICA. Caylee was also excluded.


After the DNA profile was obtained she compared it to all of the known samples submitted - CA, LA, GA, ICA, Caylee. All of those individuals were excluded from the profile.

Based on the profile, and exclusion of known samples, the next step was to compare it with the DNA unit staff samples. She did not find anyone there that matched.

She then determined what other units had contact with the evidence. Knowing it was female, she checked them. The profile matched Lori Goddis (sp) questionable document unit examiner.

Can contaminated DNA overwrite existing DNA? Depends on quantity of contaminant - a large amount could shadow or hide. However, on this sample, if there had been an underlying DNA sample, she would have expected to find a mix.

Could this still have contaminated...

OBJECTION BY JA - assumes hypotheticals not in evidence - SUSTAINED.

She still would have accepted a mix.

OBJECTION BY JA - hypothetical based on facts not in evidence - SUSTAINED.

Can contaminating DNA override...

OBJECTION BY JA - asked and answered - OVERRULED.

If there is a very large volume of contaminant over a very small underlying sample, it is possible to override.

Her unit was the last unit to receive the DNA. Getting it earlier would not have altered how she processed it. Any time an item is handled by fewer people, there is less a chance for contamination.

Exam plan is developed by the evidence control unit. This item had several types of analysis- trace, chemistry, latent print, questioned document unit then her unit.

She was aware that the duct tape had been outside and had water in it at times.

Elements can degrade DNA?

OBJECTION - leading - OVERRULED.

Sunlight, humidity can effect amount of DNA.

Why do the test? It was her thought that they should be swabbed to determine if there was any DNA present.

Can you get DNA from items under water?

OBJECTIONS - leading - OVERRULED.

It is possible, but there were different factors involved - length of time, biological fluid (blood, semen).

DNA profiles from burn victims?

OBJECTION BY JA - SUSTAINED

You can get DNA profiles from burn victims.

Never know variables?

OBJECTION BY JA - leading - SUSTAINED

She does not have all the knowledge of an item prior to receiving it.

If it is a blood looking stain, she expects a profile. If it is a swab - she doesn't know if she is going to generate a DNA profile.

Regarding duct tape - where would you expect to get a profile?

OBJECTION - hypothetical based on facts not in evidence (environmental) - OVERRULED

SIDEBAR #5

 

[Novice Seeker]

What nerve Baez has, when Jeff A objects, and Baez answers for the Judge, saying, "she can answer, it's a scientific question"

and arguing with Judge Perry

 

[JenniferTx]

This trial is getting stranger by the second!

 

[fifteen89]

BS: Mind numbing.

THANK YOU!!!

 

[truthsleuth]

Just looking back for a few pages and seeing how posters faithful to this thread are cutting out to do something else today is a clear indication that JB better get his act together and stop these long-drawn-out-and-proving-nothing interrogations NOW.

WE can leave. The jury, sadly, cannot. They have my sympathy.

 

[Softail]

Bill S when asked if this is a win for the defense - "NO - This is mind numbing!"

:lol:

 

[liltexans]

Baez: Can you get DNA from an item that's under water? Seubert says possible but there are lots of factors that could hinder results.
by cfnews13casey via twitter at 10:36 AM

Seubert: DNA possibly recovered from items that were underwater, depending on bodily fluid, other factors. #CaseyAnthony
by oscaseyanthony via twitter at 10:36 AM

Seubert: Elements can degrade, destroy DNA. #CaseyAnthony
by oscaseyanthony via twitter at 10:34 AM

 

[LongtimeMedic]

Well, I am only an RN, but what I "think" his point is that there was some DNA that was unrelated to Caylee or Casey, and in the end the lab tested and determined that it came from someone in the lab that handled the item. ( shame, she should have been wearing gloves)
However his bigger point, might be that you can not trust the DNA, and perhaps forensic evidence at large, because of the possibility of contamination.

??? So if we had Roy Kronk's DNA, could he be eliminated as a suspect, since he was supposed to have moved the body, and his DNA was not present?

(Again, this is all irrelevant, since evidence had been submitted to the elements for 6 months.)

That's merely absence of evidence, just like zero prints on the entire gas can.

 

[Whisperer]

I've have just about had it. Lord, have mercey. Baez has to be suffering from delusions of adequacy.

 

[uklaw]

Sorry, Ashton but that is not hypothetical. Your whole case is that the duct tape was on Caylee's face!

 

[The Eunice Burns]

Bill S said this is "mind numbing" and if JB had a point, he lost it by "droning on".

 

[Mamabear1963]

Okay, my sympathies to JA...he is having a hard time following JB's train of thought...and I don't blame him.

He has to follow so that he doesn't miss something...he is going to need a vacation after this as well.

 

[texaslb218]

Bill Schaeffer....mind numbing...JB had a point...Lost it by droning on and on

 

[depayne]

I realize it's an unpopular sentiment, but...um...baez may be a boring <modsnip> however, this DNA evidence on the shovel and on the tape (perhaps belong to someone else or to contamination) is no less relevant than the 'one-out-of-eleven' female Anthony hairs that showed a "death band", found incongruously in the Pontiac trunk. Same tendency to incriminate - or to exculpate - in the absence of any supportive evidence. I'm not a troll, but doesn't proper sleuthing involve comparative, objective consideration of all the evidence in any investigation and less condemnation of the judicial process as a whole and defense counselors as a population? JB doesn't have to prove CA didn't kill Caylee; he has to show that the state of Florida hasn't *proven* that CA killed Caylee. All of this DNA contam goes to that obligation. And unpopular as the view may be, I do not believe that the state proved their case against CA, beyond any standard of reasonable doubt. One concern of mine is that any complicit person or persons will essentially get away with murder if the state's "CA did it all alone because she's a pathological liar and a bad Mom" wins the jury's decision :/

 

[technicalconfusion]

OMG Jose forget his question. He's boring himself!

 

[adb263]

AAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD UUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM AAAAAHHHHHH ladies and gentlemen of the jury

AAAAANNNNNNDDDDD THEEEEE, THEEEEEE, THEEEEEEEE!!!!!:loser: