Commonwealth v. Blasioli

713 A.2d 1117 (1998)

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Commonwealth v. Blasioli

Pennsylvania Supreme Court
713 A.2d 1117 (1998)

  • Written by Arlyn Katen, JD

Facts

A Pennsylvania jury convicted Donald Blasioli (defendant) of the 1993 rape and physical assault of JD. The Pennsylvania State Police laboratory matched Blasioli’s DNA to DNA extracted from a semen sample that was collected from JD’s body immediately after the crime. After a pretrial hearing, the trial court admitted the prosecution’s (plaintiff) expert testimony regarding the DNA match and the probability that a similar match could randomly occur. The expert stated that the probability of a similar DNA match randomly occurring had been calculated using two statistical methods­: the product rule generated a probability of one in 10 billion, and the ceiling principle generated a probability of one in 30 million. The prosecution presented evidence that the fields of population genetics, human genetics, and population demographics had generally accepted the product rule. Blasioli presented an expert witness who challenged both statistical methods and used an alternative method to conclude that the probability of a random match was one in 2,220. Blasioli appealed from his conviction, and the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted review to consider Blasioli’s argument that the product rule was not generally accepted in the relevant scientific community.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Saylor, J.)

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