State v. Morel
| Decision Date | 30 May 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-631-CA,94-631-CA |
| Citation | 676 A.2d 1347 |
| Parties | STATE v. David MOREL. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
In this appeal before the Supreme Court, the defendant, David Morel, argued that the trial justice erred by admitting into evidence certain testimony on the analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and also abused his discretion by allowing the state to impeach the defendant with evidence of a prior criminal conviction. The defendant has appealed from a judgment of conviction of three counts of first degree sexual assault and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon after which conviction he was sentenced to concurrent terms of thirty years, twenty years to serve and ten suspended, on the three counts of first degree sexual assault and to a consecutive term of ten years on the count of assault with a dangerous weapon. For the reasons stated below, we deny the defendant's appeal and affirm the judgment of the Superior Court. The facts insofar as pertinent to the issues raised on appeal are briefly summarized.
At some time during the late morning or early afternoon of August 27, 1990, sixteen-year-old Ann Ames (Ames) (this is not her real name) was walking in a wooded area near her home in Burrillville, Rhode Island, when she noticed a car drive past her twice. Soon after, a man, whom Ames later identified as defendant, approached her from behind and engaged her in a brief conversation. As Ames turned to leave, the man grabbed her, held a knife to her side, and while threatening to kill her if she did not remain quiet, dragged her deeper into the woods. There the man stopped, sheathed his knife, picked up and put down a rifle, and proceeded to remove Ames's clothing. The assailant then fondled Ames's breasts, penetrated her vagina digitally, forced her to perform fellatio twice, and vaginally penetrated her with his penis two times. After threatening to kill Ames and her family if she reported the incident, the man fled deeper into the woods. Ames then ran to the home of a neighbor, and from there her family and the police were called.
When the police arrived, Ames described where the attack had occurred to Officer Jeffrey Ducharme (Ducharme) of the Burrillville Police Department and related that her assailant had dropped an empty Kool cigarette package on the ground during the incident. Ducharme followed Ames's directions to the scene, found the cigarette package, and then followed a set of fresh footprints through the woods and into the neighborhood in which defendant lived.
Meanwhile the police brought Ames to the Landmark Medical Center where an examination by the emergency room physician, Elizabeth Judd, M.D. (Judd), indicated trauma to the genitalia consistent with forced sexual intercourse. At the time of the examination, Judd also collected samples from Ames's body and clothing, using a "sexual assault evidence collection kit" referred to as a "rape kit." Following the attack, Ames told Burrillville police that her assailant had a red rash in the area of his groin, that the knife he carried had a curved blade, and that his rifle had a tube underneath the barrel. Ames also assisted Rhode Island State Police in compiling a sketch of her assailant. The police later put together a lineup of six photographs, and Ames, without hesitation, identified defendant's photograph as that of her assailant.
On August 28, 1990, Pamela George Freeman (Freeman), a forensic serologist at the Rhode Island Department of Health, analyzed the contents of Ames's rape kit. Freeman later testified that seminal fluid was indicated, although it could not be positively confirmed, in the vaginal and rectal swabs taken from Ames after the assault, and seminal fluid was positively confirmed on samples of her bathing suit and shirt. On September 7, 1990, the police arrested defendant at his home and seized a knife and a rifle, which Ames later testified were similar to those of her attacker. After his arrest, a photograph was taken of defendant's groin area, which was, in fact, covered with a red rash.
On October 26, 1990, defendant was charged by indictment with two counts of first degree sexual assault by vaginal intercourse, two counts of first degree sexual assault by fellatio, one count of first degree sexual assault by digital penetration, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of second degree sexual assault. Prior to trial, one charge of first degree sexual assault by vaginal intercourse, one charge of first degree sexual assault by fellatio, and the second degree sexual assault charge were dismissed as duplicative, pursuant to Rule 48 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure.
On February 4, 1991, blood was drawn from defendant at the Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, pursuant to a court order. On February 6, 1991, the evidence from the rape kit and defendant's blood samples were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) laboratory for analysis of the DNA in the specimens. Because the sample of defendant's blood was not suitable for analysis, a second sample was transmitted to the FBI laboratory on February 5, 1992. Special Agent Lawrence Presley (Presley) of the DNA analysis unit of the FBI laboratory compared DNA obtained from defendant's blood sample to DNA from the sperm cells found in the forensic samples from the rape kit. Trial commenced on April 26, 1993. At trial, Presley testified over objection that there was a one in one thousand chance that defendant's DNA matched that of a randomly selected Caucasian individual.
The defendant presented several alibi witnesses, all of whom testified that they had seen defendant at his parents' home in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, at various times during the day of the assault. None of the alibi witnesses could confirm, however, that defendant remained within their sight continuously on the day in question. The defendant testified on his own behalf and said that he arrived at his parents' home at approximately eleven o'clock on the morning of August 27, 1990, and remained there until eight-thirty that evening. He denied that he was Ames's assailant.
On May 4, 1993, at the close of the state's evidence, the trial justice granted defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal on the charge of felonious assault with a rifle. On May 5, 1993, following deliberations, the jury returned guilty verdicts on three charges of first degree sexual assault and the charge of felony assault with a knife.
On May 28, 1993, the trial justice denied defendant's motion for a new trial. Following his sentencing on June 23, 1993, defendant filed this appeal pursuant to G.L.1956 § 9-24-32.
Human genetic information is encoded primarily in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules that are present in the chromosomes of all body cells that contain nuclei. Chromosomal DNA molecules are of high molecular weight but vary in length. The sequence of four organic heterocyclic bases--adenine (A), cytosine (C), thymine (T), and guanine (G)--along DNA molecules determines the genetic code of the individual. The double helix of DNA is formed by a sugar-phosphate "backbone" as a spiral ladder along which the sequence of bases across each side of the ladder structure are joined by weak hydrogen bonding. The stereochemical requirements of the bases are such that A always pairs with T, and C pairs with G by hydrogen bonding that joins the antiparallel chains of the DNA molecule. Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, at 281 (Federal Judicial Center 1994).
The human genome contains genetic information encoded in the approximately 3.3 billion base pairs per set of chromosomes in each cell. More than 99 percent of the sequences of base pairs in human cells are the same for all individuals, thereby accounting for the many common traits that make all humans identifiable as a species. Only the sequences of approximately 3 million base pairs are specific to each individual (identical twins excepted) and result in most of the variation that makes each person unique. Id.
A gene, which chemically is a characteristic DNA sequence, is found at a specific site, or locus, on a specific chromosome. For example, a gene for eye color is found at the same locus on the same chromosome in every individual. Alleles are alternative forms of a gene at a given locus. Loci in which an allele differs among individuals are called polymorphic, and the differences are known as polymorphisms or variations. Id. at 281-82.
Although some polymorphisms have been found to govern functions that make individuals observably distinct from one another, others serve no known role and are believed to be "noncoding" segments of DNA molecules. Among these noncoding DNA regions are some in which certain base pair sequences repeat in tandem many times; such sequences are known as Variable Number of Tandem Repeats, or VNTR. The number and sequence of VNTR base pairs vary from locus to locus on one chromosome and from chromosome to chromosome. Id. at 282. The VNTR's are a leading aspect of DNA variability currently used in DNA forensic typing or "fingerprinting." Forensic DNA typing usually compares "evidentiary DNA" (DNA recovered from a crime scene) with "suspect DNA" (DNA extracted from the blood of a suspect). DNA Technology in Forensic Science, at 35-36 (National Research Council 1992). 1
The biochemical procedure known as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis can determine the size of a repetitive sequence. Because the length or band size of these sequences of base pairs is highly polymorphic and not necessarily unique to an individual, comparison of several corresponding sequences of DNA from known (e.g., suspect) sources and...
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