ALBANY – A slim majority of the state Court of Appeals judges ruled Thursday that prosecutors must produce forensic experts with “requisite personal knowledge” of how DNA samples are handled when that evidence is used against a criminal defendant.
The 4-3 court said U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 564 U.S. 647 (2011), and Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), prohibit the use of analysts who are familiar with DNA lab testing procedures but who had no hands-on role in a sample’s analysis from acting as “surrogate” witnesses at a criminal trial.
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