An expert witness who admits never conducting any mitochondrial DNA tests was called by the defense in the Christopher Porco murder trial to refute the prosecution’s DNA expert regarding a toll ticket allegedly linking the defendant to the vicious attacks against his mother and father.
Jurors rubbed their noses, scratched their hair, stretched and yawned as the ambiguous battle to refute the prosecution’s findings of the DNA toll ticket continued.
SUNY Syracuse College of Environmental Sciences Biology Professor William Shields said Dr. Terry Melton did not use proper data when coming to a conclusion that there was a 99.61 percent statistical chance the DNA on a thruway toll ticket matched Porco’s DNA.
Dr. Melton used a composite database and not a Caucasian data base, said Shields, who believes that because of that error, the tested DNA sample could possibly match 70 percent of the people in the FBI’s database, not .039 percent as Dr. Melton testified. DNA experts used an FBI database of 4,839 samples from all races in North America to test their base profile with a composite list.
`Her (Dr. Terry Melton) application of the guidelines resulted in an error, and the FBI makes the same error,` said Shields.
Prosecutor Michael McDermott read off Professor Shields’ unusual resume that states that Shields is a zoologist, ornithologist and researcher of barn swallows and wild turkeys, even writing a published paper entitled `All men are potential rapists,` but not a forensic scientist in the study of DNA.
`Doctor, you never worked in a crime lab,` McDermott said.
`Correct,` said Shields.
`You never extracted DNA in humans for a mitochondrial DNA analysis,` McDermott continued.
`Not in humans, wolves only,` said Shield.
`Is it true you never analyzed any piece of evidence that came from a crime scene?` asked McDermott.
Shields said he once analyzed caviar for a case.
McDermott objected to Shields being an expert witness for the defense, but his testimony was admitted by Judge Jeffrey Berry. McDermott told Berry he did not receive Shields’ report until the night before his testimony, and asked for more of the professor’s notes to support his research. The witness said his notes were in the car, and jurors had to wait several minutes for someone from the defense team to retrieve Shields’ notes.
McDermott said even if Shields theory was used, and compared Porco’s DNA base profile to the Caucasian-only base profiles in the FBI database, you would still come up with only 1 percent of the people matching Porco’s profile. Prosecutors are trying to convince the jury that the DNA sample tested on the toll ticket from Nov. 15, 2004 matches Christopher Porco’s DNA, which would link the defendant to the murder of his father and attack on his mother.
Shields agreed that Melton is an excellent forensic scientist, and said he just happens to disagree with the data compiled in the Porco case.
`She and her crew perform some of the best mitochondrial DNA testing in this country,` said Shields. `I think in this case she just interpreted the numbers wrong.`
Shields has testified for the defense in many famous cases, including the Scott Peterson and O.J. Simpson trials.
`You testify about once a month,` said McDermott.
`That’s probably accurate,` said Shields.
`Did you testify in the Unabomber case?` McDermott asked.
`I consulted in the Unabomber case,` answered Shields.
Defense Attorney Terence Kindlon stood by his witness, and said his testimony is another example of Christopher Porco’s innocence.
`I think this testimony, quite frankly, is game over,` said Kindlon. `The overall point is Dr. Melton cooked her results.`
McDermott, however, said Shields’ theories are not accepted by any DNA experts.
`He basically travels around the country criticizing other people’s work,` said McDermott.
Shields also told the jury the sampling of Porco’s DNA was so minimal that the results were not conclusive. Under cross-examination, Shields agreed with the prosecution that you could not exclude Christopher Porco’s DNA from being on the Thruway toll ticket in question.
Testimony in the Porco murder trial concluded for the week with Shields as the last witness. Week seven will bring Joan Porco’s attorney John Polster in to testify, along with veterinarians Elaine LaForte and John Kearney of Bethlehem Veterinary Hospital. LaForte and Kearney are Porco’s current employers.
The defendant has also been living at their Glenmont home since the crimes against Peter and Joan Porco occurred.
Berry told jurors to hang in there for another few days of testimony.
`You’ve been wonderful,` he told jurors. `I think we’re reaching the conclusion of this.`
