State v. Bible: The Admissibility of Forensic DNA Profiling and Statistical Probability Evidence in Arizona Criminal Proceedings
![handle is hein.journals/arzjl26 and id is 605 raw text is: State v. Bible: The Admissibility of
Forensic DNA Profiling and Statistical
Probability Evidence in Arizona Criminal
Proceedings
Sherry J. Whitney*
I. INTRODUCTION
In 1988, the first state appellate court allowed deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) test results to be admitted as evidence connecting a criminal
defendant to a crime scene.' Since then, courts in over forty states have
considered forensic DNA evidence.2 In State v. Bible,3 the Arizona
Supreme Court considered the admissibility of DNA match and prob-
ability evidence in a case of murder, kidnapping, and molestation of a
young girl. The court applied the Frye4 admissibility standard and
determined that the method of analysis used by Cellmark Diagnostic
Laboratories, Inc.5 (Cellmark) to declare a match between two DNA
samples is generally accepted in the relevant scientific community.6
* J.D. Candidate, 1995, Arizona State University; B.S.E.E., 1988, Northern Arizona
University. The author wishes to thank Professors Dennis S. Karjala and David H. Kaye for their
valuable comments and suggestions that were incorporated into this casenote.
I. Andrews v. State, 533 So. 2d 841 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1988).
2. COMMITTEE ON DNA TECHNOLOGY IN FORENSIC SCIENCE, NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL,
DNA TECHNOLOGY IN FORENSIC SCIENCE 21-22 (1992) [hereinafter NRC REPORT].
3. 858 P.2d 1152 (Ariz. 1993).
4. Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923). The Frye court applied the general
acceptance standard to determine whether a new scientific principle as a basis for expert testimony
is admissible in court. The Frye admissibility standard is whether a particular scientific principle
is generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. Id. at 1014.
5. Cellmark, Lifecodes Corporation (Lifecodes), and Forensic Science Associates are three
major commercial laboratories performing forensic DNA testing in the United States. William C.
Thompson & Simon Ford, DNA Typing: Acceptance and Weight of the New Genetic Identification
Tests, 75 VA. L. REv. 45, 48-49 (1989). The Federal Bureau of Investigation also performs DNA
testing. See, e.g., People v. Mehlberg, 618 N.E.2d 1168, 1191 (I11. App. Ct. 1993).
6. Bible, 858 P.2d at 1185. The relevant scientific community in this context is the community
of population geneticists. Id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/arzjl26&div=36&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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