From Collection to Court

Anna Davey

Director, Forensic Foundations

Council Member, ANZFSS

©2014 1

The investigative/legal process

©2014 2

Examination

& collection

Analysis &

Interpretation

Court

proceedings

The investigative/legal process

©2014 3

Examination

& Collection

Analysis &

Interpretation

Ad

mis

sib

ilit

y b

arr

ier

Court

proceedings

The investigative/legal process

©2014 4

Examination

& Collection

Analysis &

Interpretation

Ad

mis

sib

ilit

y b

arr

ier

Court

proceedings

Criminal level

of proof =

beyond

reasonable

doubt

Benchmarks for crime scene

examination

• Initial assessment of the crime scene;

• Control of the crime scene;

• Examination of the crime scene;

• Interpretation of the evidence;

• Recording of the crime scene;

• Item collection; and

• Case management.

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Benchmarks for crime

scene examination

Initial assessment

Examination

Collection

Recording

Control

©2014

©2014

AS 5388 Suite of standards

• AS 5388.1 Forensic Analysis – Recognition,

recording, recovery, transport and storage of material

• AS 5388.2 Forensic Analysis – Analysis and

examination of material

• AS 5388.3 Forensic Analysis - Interpretation

• AS 5388.4 Forensic Analysis – Reporting

• AS 5483 Minimizing the risk of contamination in

products used to collect and analysis biological

material for forensic DNA purposes

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AS 5388.1 Forensic Analysis – Recognition,

recording, recovery, transport and storage of

material

The principal focus of the document is the crime scene. That crime

scene may be the actual location where the crime took place or a

secondary location such as a car or dwelling or any other object which

may yield physical material of value to the investigation or any

subsequent judicial process.

Persons involved in crime, whether perpetrator, witness or victim, may

also be possible sources of relevant physical material.

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Underpinning principles

Recognition, collection and subsequent management of

physical material shall be undertaken to ensure the

following:

(a) Recovery is relevant and optimal.

(b) The integrity of the physical material is not

compromised.

(c) The potential for contamination is minimized.

(d) Evidence continuity and security is maintained.

(e) The potential for analysis is optimized.

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Systematic approach

• 5.2 Contemporaneous notes

• 5.2.2 Examination plan

• 5.2.4 Management

• 6. OH&S (clothing, biological hazards,

decontamination)

• 7. Recording

– Notes, diagrams, photographs

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Systematic approach

• 8. Item Collection The examiner shall—

(a) collect the material or a sample of the material that is fit for purpose;

(b) collect appropriate control and known samples;

(c) minimize possible contamination or cross-contamination of the

material collected;

(d) avoid examining, collecting or recording material that is not relevant

to the investigation, or does not provide relevant information (but see

Clause 8.1 above);

(e) consider the potential impact of sampling on other physical material

of possible interest; and

(f) place collected material in appropriate packaging.

• 8.4 Collection of material from a person

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Systematic approach

• 8.5 Packaging and labelling of physical material

• 9. Item Transport, storage and security

– Documentation

– Continuity

– Storage

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Touch DNA

A search of the relevant literature indicates that:

• It is often not possible to determine the cellular origin of small quantities

of DNA located on objects.

• DNA can be transferred to an object by as little as a 10 second touch.

• Secondary DNA transfer i.e. from the first touched object to a second

object is possible.

• There is significant ‘between’ and ‘within’ donor variation with respect to

the transfer of trace DNA.

• The transfer of DNA is complex.

• One study of 50 trace DNA casework samples showed “(t)here was no

evidence of a linear relationship between the time delay and quantity of

DNA recovered...” Experimental work which formed a part of this study

demonstrated that the amount of DNA from cellular material deposited

on known surfaces and left undisturbed decreased to zero over a four

week period.

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© 2014

AS 5388.3 Forensic Analysis

- Interpretation

Information = results

Information + interpretation = opinion

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In short, if evidence tendered as expert opinion evidence is to be admissible,

• it must be agreed or demonstrated that there is a field of ‘specialised knowledge’;

• there must be an identified aspect of that field in which the witness demonstrates that

by reason of specific training, study or experience, the witness has become an expert;

• the opinion proffered must be ‘wholly or substantially based on the witness’s expert

knowledge;

• so far as the opinion is based on facts ‘observed’ by the expert, they must be

identified and admissibility proved by the expert, and so far as opinions based on

‘assumed’ or ‘accepted’ facts, they must be identified and proved in some other way;

• It must be established that the facts on which the opinion is based form a proper

foundation for it; and

• The opinion of an expert requires demonstration or examination of the scientific or

other intellectual basis of the conclusions reached: that is the expert’s evidence must

explain how the field of ‘specialised knowledge’ in which the witness is expert by

reason of ‘training, study or experience’, and on which the opinion is ‘wholly or

substantially based’ applies to the facts assumed or observed so as to produce the

opinion propounded.

If all these matters are not made explicit, it is not possible to be sure whether the opinion

is based wholly or substantially on the expert’s specialised knowledge. If the court cannot

be sure of that, the evidence is strictly speaking not admissible, and, so far as it is

admissible, of diminished weight.

• Heydon JA Makita (Australia) Pty Ltd v Sprowles (2001) 52 NSWLR 705

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AS 5388.4 Forensic Analysis – Reporting

• Fit for purpose

• Terminology such that they can be understood

by non-specialist

• Multiple reports may be issued

• Case file review

• Issue and control

• Contents

• Report review

• Testimony review

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The investigative/legal process

©2014 19

Examination

& Collection

Analysis &

Interpretation

Ad

mis

sib

ilit

y b

arr

ier

Court

proceedings

Criminal level

of proof =

beyond

reasonable

doubt

©2014 20

©2014 21

Dates for 2014 still to be determined