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Page 1: Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test€¦ · Forensics: Anthony V State Frye ... influence people’s opinions and warp facts about court evidence. ... analysis in Casey Anthony meet

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?

Page 2: Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test€¦ · Forensics: Anthony V State Frye ... influence people’s opinions and warp facts about court evidence. ... analysis in Casey Anthony meet

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):

Page 3: Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test€¦ · Forensics: Anthony V State Frye ... influence people’s opinions and warp facts about court evidence. ... analysis in Casey Anthony meet

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.

Page 4: Forensics: Anthony V State Frye Test€¦ · Forensics: Anthony V State Frye ... influence people’s opinions and warp facts about court evidence. ... analysis in Casey Anthony meet

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: