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Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test 2015
BACKGROUND:
Social media and news outlets can severely influence people’s opinions and warp facts
about court evidence. The term “media circus” is very apt when applied to many
televised and heavily sensationalized court situations. Weak performance of
prosecutors and socially awkward expert witnesses pitted against the abilities of a
“media savvy” defense team can create quite the spin on scientific testimony.
How to sort fact from fiction? Refer to the method(s) and procedures used to obtain
evidence.
The Casey Anthony case displays how the Frye Standard can be misinterpreted or
misrepresented by defense teams, especially in relation to the “Odor Detection Test”
and the “Post-mortem Hair Banding.”
If you paid attention to the media circus interpretation of events, you might think that the
science behind the evidence was inadmissible or that it didn’t meet the rigorous
standards of the Frye test or the Daubert!
However, if an expert witness is allowed to testify in court—they have met the Frye
test and the evidence has been submitted/accepted by the court. The evidence
questioned by the defense was perfectly acceptable to the court and was admitted as
such!
*If evidence doesn’t meet the Frye/Daubert Standards it is not admitted and the motion
to “deny” by defense is be granted. If the experts weren’t considered experts, they
wouldn’t be allowed on the stand to testify.
Things to think about:
How did the scientific analysis in Casey Anthony meet the Daubert Standards?
Why is Frye difficult to apply—why is the Frye test better when in combination with
Daubert?
Does the scientific evidence prove that there was a dead body in the trunk?
Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test 2015
SECTION 1 Applying the Frye Test (pages 1-3): Read the motion to deny odor
analysis methods section provided. After you read the section,
1) Summarize the evidence that the defense motion was seeking to deny
2) How did the court will apply the Frye Test?
3)Identify and explain the steps the court needs to take before it can allow evidence
and allow an expert to testify
SECTION 2 Dr. Voss as expert (pages 4-5): Read the motion to deny odor analysis
methods section provided. After you read the section, summarize all the main points
of Voss’s first published article:
SECTION 3 Dr. Voss as expert (pages 5-7): Read the motion to deny odor analysis
methods section provided. After you read the section, summarize all the main points
of Voss’s second published article:
SECTION 4 Chloroform levels (pages 7-9): Read the motion to deny odor analysis
methods section provided. After you read the section,
1) Identify and describe the two important factors to evaluate when determining the
human decomposition compounds present at a burial site:
2) Describe the method that Voss used to collect human gases:
3) What does GC-MS stand for?
4) Describe the two types of decomposition environmental conditions that he
studied and compared:
5) Explain the significance of the chloroform reading from the car trunk sample:
SECTION 5: Adipocere (pages 9-10): Read the motion to deny odor analysis methods
section provided. After you read the section,
1) What is another name for adipocere? Do some outside research and explain
where the other name came from (why is it called that?):
2) Define adipocere:
3) Which fatty acids were detected? What was the significance of one of those
acids in particular?
4) Which compound detected is a human specific marker?
5) Were there compounds that are found only in animals and NOT humans
present?
6) What does the presence of “anaerobic decomposition” compounds indicate?
SECTION 6 Conclusions (p. 10):
Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test 2015
1) What is LIBS? Do search and find out:
2) Define PMI:
3) List all the points made in the conclusion:
SECTION 7 Conclusions (p. 10):
1) Do a search for the decomposition compounds found in animals compared to
humans specifically and describe what you found:
SECTION 8 Question and expert response (pages 11-14): Read all the defense
questions and the expert responses then discuss and answer:
1) What do you notice about the defense techniques?
2) What do you notice about expert responses?
3) Is there a clear style/method associated with each?
SECTION 9 Gas chromatography –mass spectrometry (page 17): After reading this
section,
1) Summarize the definitions of GC-MS provided by the court (include all the major
steps of the processes:
2) Read the diagram and explanation from (Crasto, A.M. 2015) below. After you
read and annotated, look up words that you don’t know and try to understand it-
be able to explain to others:
Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
Block diagram of a gas chromatogram-mass spectrometer. The gas chromatograph
column separates the mixture into its components. The quadrupole mass spectrometer
scans mass spectra of the components as they leave the column.
Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test 2015
As the sample passes through the column the most volatile components move through
the column faster than the more volatile components. The separated components leave
the column at different times, passing through a tranfer line into the ion source of the
mass spectrometer, where the molecules are ionized and allowed to fragment.
Source: Crasto, A.M. orgspectroscopyint.blogspot.com/2014
SECTION 10: Post-mortem hair banding p. 3-4: Read the motion to deny post-
mortem hair banding section provided. After you read the section
1) In Kogut, what reasons did the court cite to confirm that post-mortem hair-
banding meets Daubert (identify 3):
2) Define post mortem hair banding: