Direct examination of Gary Sims (morning, part 1)

📄 Direct examination of Gary Sims (morning, part 1) — Thursday, November 14, 1996

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\NOV\14\DIRECT-EXAMINATION-OF-GARY-SIM.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 15 of 57

◀ Witness excused and next witness sworn Sidebar: Edward Blake testimony ▶

Witness: Gary Sims
Examiner: Robert Blasier
Called by: Plaintiff • Date: Thursday, November 14, 1996 • Utterances: 61

Tom Lambert begins the direct examination of Gary Alan Sims, a criminalist supervisor at the California Department of Justice DNA Laboratory in Berkeley. The examination covers Sims' extensive credentials and establishes foundational context for his DNA testing in the case, including that the DOJ lab tested approximately 108 samples — far above their typical ten — and that defense consultant Dr. Edward Blake was present for much of the testing.

# 1 Q:

Good afternoon, Mr. Sims.

# 2 A:

Good afternoon.

# 3 Q:

What is your occupation?

# 4 A:

I am employed as a criminalist supervisor by the California Department of Justice, DNA Laboratory, in Berkeley.

# 5 Q:

And as a general proposition, what does the Department of Justice DNA Lab do?

# 6 A:

The Department of Justice DNA Lab analyzes samples that are generally submitted to us by other forensic laboratories who first test samples for blood, semen, that sort of thing, biological material, and then they send it to us because we're a specialty lab doing DNA -- forensic DNA testing.

# 7 Q:

And how long has the DOJ DNA Lab been doing forensic DNA testing?

# 8 A:

We've been doing case work since 1992.

# 9 Q:

And when you do forensic DNA testing, do sometimes your test result in a person who is suspected of being in a crime, being excluded as a suspect?

# 10 A:

They often do.

# 11 Q:

And sometimes it results in inclusions?

# 12 A:

Yes.

# 13 Q:

Do you have any idea as to how frequently the work that you do actually exonerates somebody from being a suspect?

# 14 A:

Our figure is somewhere on the order of about 20, 25 percent of the time, something like that.

KEY QUOTE

# 15 Q:

Have -- do you have a formal educational background that led to you being in this field, sir?

# 16 A:

Yes, I do.

# 17 Q:

Would you describe that for us, please.

# 18 A:

Yes.

My education began at the University of California at Berkeley, where I graduated with a bachelor of science degree in criminalistics in 1975.

At that, or shortly after the time, I did some graduate work in criminalistics at UC Berkeley, and I also did graduate work in criminalistics at California State University, Los Angeles.

In 1994, I went back to UC Berkeley to complete my graduate education, and I now hold a master's degree in public health, with a forensic science specialty.

Also, as part of my formal education, because of the need to update my education with regard to molecular biology and DNA techniques, I went back and took classes, for example, in genetic molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology, that sort of thing.

# 19 MR. LAMBERT:

By the way, let me mark as the next exhibit in order -- give Mr. Blasier a copy -- a copy of your curriculum vitae, and Ask you to identify that, please.

What number is this?

# 20 THE CLERK:

2186.

# 21 MR. LAMBERT:

2186.

# 22 (The instrument herein referred to as Curriculum Vitae of Gary Alan Sims was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 2186.)

# 23 GARY SIMS:

Yes, which is a current copy of my C.V.

# 24 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) When you graduated from Berkeley with your bachelor's degree, did you obtain any honors?

# 25 A:

Yes, I did.

# 26 Q:

What was that?

# 27 A:

Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Berkeley.

# 28 Q:

Thank you, sir.

After graduating with your degree in criminalistics, what kind of employment did you have?

# 29 A:

I first began my career at the Department of Chief Medical Examiner, Coroner, here in Los Angeles County, where I worked in the laboratories there from 1976 until 1979, looking at blood and semen evidence in cases of sexual assault, homicides that sort of thing.

Then, from 1979 to 1980, I went to work for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, where I worked in their crime laboratory. And I was specifically assigned to the serology section, looking at blood and semen and other biological evidence there.

Then, from 1980 until 1990, I worked for the Institute of Forensic Sciences Criminalistics Laboratory, which is a private crime laboratory in Oakland, California, directed by Charles Morton in that laboratory. Since it's a private laboratory, we analyzed both evidence in defense and prosecution cases.

Then, in 1990, I went to work for the Department of Justice in the DNA Laboratory. And that's where I've been to date.

# 30 Q:

Your work at the DNA laboratory, does it involve actual hands-on work on DNA testing?

# 31 A:

Yes.

# 32 Q:

On case work kinds of things?

# 33 A:

Yes.

# 34 Q:

Now, did you do, yourself, some DNA testing in this case?

# 35 A:

Yes, I did.

# 36 Q:

How many samples altogether did the California Department of Justice evidence samples -- that is, sample in this case?

# 37 A:

Something like 108 samples.

KEY QUOTE

# 38 Q:

Is that a small, normal, or large number of samples for a particular case?

# 39 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Irrelevant.

# 40 THE COURT:

Sustained.

# 41 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) In a normal criminal investigation, are the items of blood evidence usually much fewer in number than you had in this case?

# 42 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Irrelevant.

# 43 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 44 GARY SIMS:

In our laboratory, we would typically analyze ten samples in a case.

# 45 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) So in this case, there was a very substantial amount of evidence to analyze?

# 46 A:

Yes.

# 47 Q:

Now, when you did these tests at the DOJ Lab On the blood evidence, was there anyone not part of the Department of Justice present during that testing?

# 48 A:

Yes.

# 49 Q:

And who was that?

# 50 A:

The individual who was present in our laboratory for virtually all of the opening of the evidence as we received it from LAPD, and who was also present for several of the test readings, and who was -- in fact, had a standing invitation to any of the other evidence examinations -- was Dr. Edward Blake, a defense consultant from Forensic Science Associates.

KEY QUOTE

# 51 Q:

Dr. Blake was there for much of your testing on behalf of Mr. Simpson?

# 52 A:

Yes. He was particularly there for the documentation, the opening of the evidence, that sort of thing, the initial examinations.

He was also present for some of the actual testing.

# 53 Q:

And Dr. Blake, himself, does he have his own DNA Lab?

# 54 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Irrelevant.

# 55 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 56 GARY SIMS:

He is a partner in a laboratory that does DNA work, yes.

# 57 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) And his own laboratory, that is, Dr. Blake's laboratory, is capable of doing testing of DNA at that lab?

# 58 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Irrelevant.

# 59 THE COURT:

I'll sustain that.

# 60 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Were some of the evidence samples that you took in this case that -- were portions of them specifically set aside so that the defense could do testing on their own if they wanted to?

# 61 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Irrelevant.

May we approach?

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (3)

Gary Alan Sims

Our figure is somewhere on the order of about 20, 25 percent of the time, something like that.

Sims establishes that DNA testing frequently exonerates suspects — preemptively neutralizing any suggestion that DOJ is simply a prosecution tool.

Gary Alan Sims

Something like 108 samples.

The sheer volume of evidence tested underscores the scale of the case; Lambert is trying to frame this as unusually large, which Blasier fights.

Gary Alan Sims

The individual who was present in our laboratory for virtually all of the opening of the evidence... was Dr. Edward Blake, a defense consultant from Forensic Science Associates.

Establishes that the defense had independent oversight of the DOJ testing process, preemptively addressing chain-of-custody and contamination challenges.

Evidence (1)

Plaintiffs' Exhibit 2186

Curriculum vitae of Gary Alan Sims

marked for identification

Notable Exchanges (2)

Tom Lambert•Robert Blasier

Blasier repeatedly objects 'irrelevant' as Lambert tries to establish that 108 samples is an unusually large caseload and that Dr. Blake's lab was capable of independent testing. Blasier successfully blocks the sample-volume comparison and the question about Blake's lab capabilities, but loses on whether normal cases have fewer samples.

strategic

Tom Lambert•Robert Blasier

Blasier requests a sidebar on the question of whether defense portions of samples were set aside — suggesting a substantive dispute about what the jury should hear on this topic.

strategic

Objections

5 objections (2 sustained, 2 overruled)

Proceeding 8261 • 61 utterances • Plaintiff witness

Civil Trial

Department 103