Microsatellite

Amended Supplemental Expert Disclosure, Catherine White.

The state has previously disclosed Catherine White, formerly Dace, Forensic Scientist 3. as an expert witness in the field of biology and DNA, which includes but in no way is limited to DNA extraction, quantification, amplification, analysis, and interpretation analysis, including but not limited to STR data, YSTR data, and STR mix, probabilistic genotyping, forensic biology, serology, which includes but in no way is limited to examination of evidence for the presence of biological fluids and trace evidence, The state hereby incorporates its response and attachments filed on December 18, 2024 and February 16, 2025, and is hereby supplementing those responses as follows.

White may testify about DNA, which is genetic material contained in cells that may be utilized for human identification.

DNA may be present on an item in the form of biological materials such as blood, semen, and saliva, or it may be left on an item when it's handled.

Comparisons can be between evidence and reference samples to include or exclude an individual from a single source or mixture DNA profile.

For exclusions to single source profiles, the exclusion can be made by visually comparing DNA profiles.

For mixture samples, a software tool, STRmix, can be used to aid in this comparison.

White may explain how reference samples can be used for comparison and how an individual may be excluded as a contributor to a DNA profile.

Exhibit S-Eleven, Amended Supplemental Expert Disclosure, Catherine White.

The state has previously disclosed Catherine White, formerly Dace, Forensic Scientist Three, as an expert witness in the field of biology and DNA, which includes but in no way is limited to DNA extraction, quantification, amplification, analysis, and interpretation analysis, including but not limited to STR data, Y-STR data, and STR mix, probabilistic genotyping, forensic biology, serology, which includes but in no way is limited to examination of evidence for the presence of biological fluids and trace evidence.

The state hereby incorporates its response and attachments filed on December 18, 2024, and February 16, 2025, and is hereby supplementing those responses as follows.

White may testify about DNA, which is genetic material contained in cells that may be utilized for human identification.

Comparisons can be between evidence and reference samples to include or exclude an individual from a single source or mixture DNA profile.

For exclusions to single source profiles, the exclusion can be made by visually comparing DNA profiles.

For mixture samples, a software tool, STR Mix, can be used to aid in this comparison.

White may explain how reference samples can be used for comparison and how an individual may be excluded as a contributor to a DNA profile.

At the heart of forensic DNA analysis lies DNA profiling.

Also known as DNA fingerprinting, during this phase, scientists examine specific regions of the DNA known as short tandem repeats or STRs.

These STRs vary from person to person, and by comparing the number of repeats at multiple STR loci, a unique DNA profile is created for an individual.

This profile is akin to a genetic barcode with the likelihood of two unrelated individuals having the same DNA profile being extremely low.

5.

At the heart of forensic DNA analysis lies DNA profiling.

Also known as DNA fingerprinting, during this phase, scientists examine specific regions of the DNA known as short tandem repeats or STRs.

These STRs vary from person to person, and by comparing the number of repeats at multiple STR loci, a unique DNA profile is created for an individual.

This profile is akin to a genetic barcode with the likelihood of two unrelated individuals having the same DNA profile being extremely low.

Number 5.

Possessing a signature and being able to read the name it spells are two completely different scientific challenges.

Back in 2001, forensic science relied really heavily on STR profiling.

Okay, STR short tandem repeats.

Right.

Let me see if I can translate the STR limitation here 'cause I feel like just thinking of it as, as the generic DNA test kind of obscures why it failed so badly in this case.

Go for it.

So if human DNA is this massive multi volume encyclopedia, STR profiling doesn't read the whole book, right?

Yep, not at all.

Right.

The gold standard for forensic DNA analysis was, and in many traditional labs still is, built around something called short tandem repeats, or STRs.

STRs, okay.

To understand STRs, you have to realize that human beings share about 99.9% of their DNA.

Wait, really? 99.9%?

Yeah, we are overwhelmingly genetically identical.

And once that federal machine was funded and built, investigators were finally able to take that old 2005 time capsule and translate the evidence into a language that modern algorithms could actually understand.

Okay, which takes us out of the evidence room and into the lab, the science of identity.