No Further Questions: Preparing for Expert Witness Testimony on Probabilistic Genotyping

Topics include:
  • Potential questions and response options typically covered in testimony around probabilistic genotyping
  • Testifying in admissibility hearings on probabilistic genotyping systems

Summary

With approximately half the forensic laboratories in the United States either using a probabilistic genotyping system or in some stage of implementation, cases processed using this method are now making their way through the court systems. Additionally, probabilistic genotyping has been used at the international level for nearly a decade. As scientists make the adjustment to reporting probabilistic genotyping analyses, they must also transition to explaining these same results to judges, attorneys and juries.

In this webinar, Samantha Wandzek and Rachel Oefelein of DNA Labs International (DLI) will address potential questions and response options typically covered in both Direct Examination and Cross Examination of expert witnesses testifying to probabilistic genotyping. They will also discuss testifying in admissibility hearings on probabilistic genotyping systems. The speakers have testified to probabilistic genotyping in eight jurisdictions in both American and British court systems since going online in 2016.


Speakers

samantha-wandzek

Samantha Wandzek
Quality Assurance Manager/Senior DNA Analyst
DNA Labs International (DLI)

Samantha Wandzek is currently the Validation Manager/Senior DNA Analyst at DNA Labs International (DLI). She received an MS in Forensic Science from Pace University and a BA in Chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Samantha previously worked at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in the Department of Forensic Biology for over seven years.   She has testified over fifty times to date, which include testimony in five states and four countries outside the United States.

rachel-oefelein

Rachel Oefelein
Quality Assurance Manager/Senior DNA Analyst
DNA Labs International (DLI)

Rachel Oefelein is currently the Quality Assurance Manager/Senior DNA Analyst at DNA Labs International (DLI). She received her MSc in Forensic Science from the University of Strathclyde, and her BS in Criminal Justice, with a Forensic Science Minor, from Loyola University of New Orleans. Rachel worked at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) for nearly five years and previously interned at Instytut Ekspertyz Sądowych, the Forensic Laboratory in Krakow, Poland. Her courtroom experience includes testimony in four Florida counties, two states and three countries including misdemeanor and felony trials as well as both Arthur and Daubert hearings. Rachel is actively involved in animal rescue, an avid traveler and enjoys golf and yoga in her free time.

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