| DNA EXPERT - Hair in Pliers Likely Came From Laci September 8, 2004 Wednesday, a DNA expert testified that at least one strand of dark hair found on Peterson's boat probably came from his dead wife. Prosecutors say the hair found in a pair of pliers is significant because Laci allegedly was never on the boat while alive and was even unaware her husband had bought one. Defense lawyers don't concede the hair belonged to Laci and have offered innocent explanations for how it might have ended up there, including that she was once on the boat or that it may have fallen from Scott Peterson's clothing. Constance Fisher, a DNA expert with the FBI who tested the hairs, told jurors how the mitochondrial technique used in the case varies from nuclear DNA testing, which can produce a virtually definitive genetic fingerprint. "Mitochondrial DNA cannot be used to point to an individual to the exclusion of all others, as nuclear DNA can be," Fisher said. "It is less discriminating." The less-precise mitochondrial method is used when the hair tested does not have a root. Fisher said testing excluded the possibility that the hair came from Scott Peterson and, according to comparisons with a swab taken from Laci's mother's cheek, it likely came from Laci. She said "about one out of 112" Caucasian people would have the same mitochondrial DNA makeup. Defense lawyers have attacked the mitochondrial testing, calling it unreliable. They also have attacked the way police collected the hairs. Detectives testified they took one hair from the pliers. But Detective Allen Brocchini testified that two hairs were discovered when he and another officer opened the evidence envelope months after collecting the single strand. Only one strand was tested, Fisher said. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos implied Brocchini may have contaminated the evidence by opening the envelope in a non-sterile environment a police waiting room. Karen Korsberg, an FBI trace evidence expert, testified that a visible examination of hairs from one of Laci's brushes indicated it matched the hair from the pliers. The hair is critical to the prosecution's case, as it is the only evidence linking Laci Peterson to the boat that her husband allegedly used to dump her body in the San Francisco Bay. Prosecutors have argued that Laci did not know about the boat, while Peterson's defense team has argued she saw the boat in a storage facility before she disappeared. CONSTANCE FISHER INDEX HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST PLIERS-DNA WIRETAPS AUTOPSY DOGS |
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