DNA BOMBSHELL in Uncle’s Trial for 5-Year-Old’s Murder

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Yes, sir, thank you. Good morning, Ms. Saini. How are you? [00:00:04] Speaker 2: Good morning. I'm well, thank you. How are you? [00:00:06] Speaker 1: I'm fine, other than just tickling my throat. Let me just ask you, so when you received the swabs of work labeled as EO1 through EO1 through 6, did you also receive any slides? [00:00:29] Speaker 2: If I may refer to my notes. Yes, there was a rectal smear slide submitted, but not tested. And then Bodie item EO4 was actually a smear slide, a vaginal smear that was tested. [00:01:21] Speaker 1: And prior to your testing, were you aware that the state crime lab had not found any evidence of semen in Peyton Fields' vagina or her rectum? [00:01:35] Speaker 2: Yes, it was communicated to us during the testing process that semen had not been detected. That's typically a question we ask because it does impact how we test the evidence, whether semen is present or not. [00:01:50] Speaker 1: And so the Y-S-T-R testing that you were doing, that's specifically for the Y chromosome study? Correct. That's correct. That's correct. STR testing. Can you explain that, please? Sure. [00:02:05] Speaker 2: STR stands for short tandem repeat. And these are short segments of DNA that are repeated back to back a varying number of times. Um, that variable number is how we are able to differentiate different people. Um, different people will have different numbers of repeats at the various DNA locations that are tested. And that ultimately is how we also can then compare evidence to known samples. We're looking to see if those repeat numbers are the same between our evidence and our known individual, or if they're different. Um, so Y-S-T-Rs are then short tandem repeats or STRs that are found on the Y chromosome. [00:02:48] Speaker 1: So in the S- in the STR testing, is it capable of detecting the Y chromosome? [00:02:56] Speaker 2: There is a gender marker in the STR testing, um, it's called amylogenin, and that will give us either an X-X if the female contributor is present, or an X-Y. If a male contributor is present. [00:03:12] Speaker 1: And were you provided with the state crime lab reports, just for review purposes? [00:03:20] Speaker 2: Uh, in reviewing the case today, I did see in some of the communications that we were provided with some reports, yes. [00:03:29] Speaker 1: And is the Y-S-T-R more specific than the STR? [00:03:37] Speaker 2: The testing kit can be a little bit more sensitive than some of the STR testing kits that are on the market. Um, it's more specific in a sense of it's specific to male DNA. Um, but other than that, there's not much of a difference. The overall testing process and instrumentation testing methodology is pretty similar between STRs and Y-S-T-Rs. [00:04:07] Speaker 1: And you testified that there was no male DNA found on, um, the swabs O-1 through O-4? [00:04:17] Speaker 2: Correct. They were negative for the presence of male DNA. [00:04:20] Speaker 1: And those specifically were, um, a swab of the clitoral hood? Um, that's one, and number one, two was the swab of the rectum. Is that correct? Or perineal? [00:04:35] Speaker 2: Correct. EO-2 was the external periatal swab. [00:04:39] Speaker 1: Three was the rectum? Correct. And four was the, uh, the ear, the earbud? [00:04:47] Speaker 2: Um, EO-4 was a vaginal smear slide. [00:04:52] Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sorry. Five was, um, the clitoral hood. Was that a swab or was that a slide or smear? [00:05:00] Speaker 2: Um, EO-5 was the clitoral hood extract that was generated by the state crime law. [00:05:08] Speaker 1: And O-6? [00:05:09] Speaker 2: That was the ear swab extract that was also generated by the state crime law. [00:05:13] Speaker 1: With respect to the ear, were you given, um, the location of this, of where the swabbing had taken place? [00:05:21] Speaker 2: No, we were just given the description of ear swab. And then we tested the extract from the state crime law. [00:05:28] Speaker 1: It was the actual item of evidence that the earbud submitted along with the materials. Hold on. [00:05:37] Speaker 2: Form of the question, Judge. [00:05:40] Speaker 1: All right, sustain this form. Rephrase your question. Was the actual earbud submitted along with the materials you received from the Penner County Sheriff's Department? [00:05:52] Speaker 2: No, just the actual extract. [00:06:02] Speaker 1: And in your testing, um, the reagent is a chemical mixture, is that correct? [00:06:11] Speaker 2: The reagent blank, yes. [00:06:13] Speaker 1: And the reagent is to verify that there is no DNA present in the testing of whatever you're using? [00:06:22] Speaker 2: Correct. The reagent blank confirms that none of the chemicals that are used during the testing contain DNA or any sort of contamination. [00:06:32] Speaker 1: And you were testing different parts of each swab than the state lab had done? And you were testing different parts of each swab than the state lab had done? [00:06:49] Speaker 2: For EO1 through EO4 use. [00:06:52] Speaker 1: And how were we able to determine which portion that the state lab had tested? [00:06:59] Speaker 2: So when we received the swabs, as I mentioned, these are sort of like q-tips where there is a stick portion and then a cotton head. So the portion tested by the state lab is no longer present. That portion has been cut off of the head and tested. So we were working with the cotton material that was remaining on the swab. [00:07:22] Speaker 1: And in the swabs 01 through 04, there was no male DNA detected? [00:07:30] Speaker 2: In Bodie's testing, yes, correct. [00:07:33] Speaker 1: And in EO5 and EO6, you were able to find some part or particle of DNA, male DNA. [00:07:46] Speaker 2: Based on the information provided by the state crime lab from their testing, yes. A small amount of male DNA was detected on both the extracts for EO5 and EO6. [00:07:58] Speaker 1: When you say a small amount, was that quantified? [00:08:02] Speaker 2: Yes, I have those values. [00:08:04] Speaker 1: All of those values. [00:08:13] Speaker 2: For EO5, which was the clitoral hood swab extract, the amount of male DNA present was 0.0002 nanograms per microliter. And for the ear swabs, EO6, the amount of male DNA present was 0.0016 nanograms per microliter. [00:08:43] Speaker 1: And so when we're talking nanograms, that's an amount that's to the right of the decimal point when the number, the number is actually written. [00:08:55] Speaker 2: I'm not sure I understand the question. [00:08:57] Speaker 1: A nanogram, you just referred to the values at 0.0002? Correct. And then 0.00016? [00:09:13] Speaker 2: The second is just two zeros, so 0.0016.