Direct examination of Collin Yamauchi (part 5)

📄 Direct examination of Collin Yamauchi (part 5) — Wednesday, May 24, 1995

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C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\MAY\24\DIRECT-EXAMINATION-OF-COLLIN-Y.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 81 of 167

Witness: Collin Yamauchi
Examiner: Rockne Harmon
Called by: Prosecution • Date: Wednesday, May 24, 1995 • Utterances: 65

Harmon continues direct examination of LAPD criminalist Collin Yamauchi, walking through the precise order in which DNA samples were extracted during the PCR process. Yamauchi describes processing glove samples first, then Bundy bloodstain items, then the Rockingham items, and finally OJ Simpson's blood reference sample last. The session ends at a natural break called by Judge Ito.

# 1 (The following proceedings were held in open court:)

# 2 THE COURT:

Proceed.

# 3 MR. HARMON:

Thank you, your Honor.

# 4 MR. HARMON:

Now, where do you actually begin the PCR process in LAPD SID? Where is the first step performed?

# 5 MR. YAMAUCHI:

The extraction?

# 6 MR. HARMON:

Yes.

# 7 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes. That would be performed in the serology unit at piper tech.

# 8 MR. HARMON:

Now, where is that in relation to the--the jury's seen a diagram. I'm not going to get it up again. But how far away is that from the evidence processing room?

# 9 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Oh, I'd say over a hundred feet.

# 10 MR. HARMON:

Okay. How did you get these racks with the microcentrifuge tubes from the evidence processing room to serology?

# 11 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Well, I--they were capped and I carried them there.

# 12 MR. HARMON:

Okay. Now, you've referred to something that lists the order in which the samples were processed that you used to help refresh your recollection. What are you referring to?

# 13 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Well, that's my extraction record.

# 14 MR. HARMON:

And is that the order that the samples were actually processed by you?

# 15 MR. SCHECK:

Objection. Leading.

# 16 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 17 MR. YAMAUCHI:

No, it's not, but it refreshes my recollection as to the last one I put on there.

# 18 MR. HARMON:

Okay. And with regard to the next step in the--or the first step in the PCR process, the extraction process, what order did you process the samples for extraction in this case?

# 19 MR. YAMAUCHI:

They would be--as to the item number in this--on this sheet, which is a different number from what the actual item number is, there's a listing of the extraction number, which is 84, and then it goes chronologically down through 21. I usually set my tubes up in that order.

# 20 MR. HARMON:

Okay.

# 21 MR. YAMAUCHI:

For the extraction.

# 22 MR. HARMON:

Sure. And would you please describe the order in which you processed these tubes for extraction? If you need to refresh your recollection, that would be fine.

# 23 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Okay. According to my extraction record, item no. 9, glove, A, backside sample is 84-1 followed by item no. 9, glove B, thumb sample, glove C, inside back of wrist, glove D, back of--back below little finger and then item no. 112, which as we discussed later, its actual evidence item number is different, but that would be the photo item number at that time.

# 24 MR. HARMON:

That's LAPD item no. 47, the evidence item?

# 25 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes.

# 26 MR. HARMON:

Okay. Go ahead.

# 27 MR. YAMAUCHI:

And then item no. 113--wait. I skipped over the control. But one or 47 with the red stain and then its control and then listed on my sheet is item no. 113, which is 48, red stain, followed by its control and so on for 114 and then 115 and then 117 and then 106 and then 107 and finally item no. 18, O.J. Simpson blood exemplar.

# 28 MR. HARMON:

Okay. You started skipping there. Did you process the substrate controls with 49, 50 and 52 right after you did the red stain?

# 29 MR. SCHECK:

Objection. Leading.

# 30 THE COURT:

Sustained.

# 31 MR. HARMON:

When did you process the 49 substrate control with respect to the red stain?

# 32 MR. YAMAUCHI:

In the extraction, it would have been one behind that.

# 33 MR. HARMON:

One behind the red stain?

# 34 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes.

# 35 MR. HARMON:

And then when did you process 50 control with respect to the 50 red stain?

# 36 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Right behind the 50 stain.

# 37 MR. HARMON:

And before 52?

# 38 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes. Keep in mind though that to a certain extent, this is all happening at the same time period. It's just that you can only open one cap at a time like I described before. So there is actual--there is an actual process.

KEY QUOTE

# 39 MR. HARMON:

And so you--in this step as well, you've never opened more than one tube at a time?

# 40 MR. SCHECK:

Objection. Leading.

# 41 THE COURT:

Sustained.

# 42 MR. HARMON:

In this part of the processing, do you ever open more than one tube at a time?

# 43 MR. SCHECK:

Still leading.

# 44 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 45 MR. YAMAUCHI:

No.

# 46 MR. HARMON:

And then you mentioned 106 and 107, that those correspond to 41 and 42?

# 47 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes.

# 48 MR. HARMON:

And did 41 also have a substrate control?

# 49 MR. SCHECK:

Objection. Leading.

# 50 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 51 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes.

# 52 MR. HARMON:

Did 42 also have a substrate control?

# 53 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes.

# 54 MR. HARMON:

Why did you process 41 and 42 at the end of the line as you've described them?

# 55 MR. YAMAUCHI:

I--I really can't give a particular reason for that.

# 56 MR. HARMON:

Okay. How about the reference tube or the--by now, it's been the cutting from the fitzco card. Why was that last in the order you processed things?

# 57 MR. SCHECK:

Objection. Well, withdrawn.

# 58 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yeah, it was the last thing I was working on and--I don't know. Maybe I subconsciously grouped them up together as exemplars in a group.

KEY QUOTE

# 59 MR. HARMON:

And were there also other items that you processed in this--in this extraction process period?

# 60 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Yes. There would be blood standard no. 1.

# 61 MR. HARMON:

What is that?

# 62 MR. YAMAUCHI:

Described earlier, we were talking about controls. Well, within our analysis, our--the laboratory testing, we have controls that go beyond the ones that are just collected at the scene. There are both positive and negative controls. The positive controls show us that yes, you do get this certain type--the process works, and, you know, it's what you expect. The negative controls shows you that there's no contaminating factors or anything weird like that going on. In this case, blood standard no. 1 is what I use as a positive control, whereas the next one down after that is the cloth control, and that would be utilized as a negative control.

# 63 THE COURT:

All right. Mr. Harmon, I think this would be a good point.

# 64 MR. HARMON:

Okay.

# 65 THE COURT:

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to take a brief recess. Please remember my admonitions to you. Let me ask you to step back into the jury room at this time. Mr. Yamauchi, you can step down.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (3)

Collin Yamauchi

Yeah, it was the last thing I was working on and--I don't know. Maybe I subconsciously grouped them up together as exemplars in a group.

Yamauchi cannot give a clear reason for why Simpson's reference blood was processed last, opening a door for the defense to argue about contamination risk — the reference sample being processed after the evidence samples is the safer order, but the admission of 'subconscious' reasoning weakens his methodological credibility.

Collin Yamauchi

Keep in mind though that to a certain extent, this is all happening at the same time period. It's just that you can only open one cap at a time like I described before.

Key contamination-prevention testimony: Yamauchi asserts he never had multiple tubes open simultaneously, a critical safeguard in PCR work.

Collin Yamauchi

Item no. 9, glove, A, backside sample is 84-1 followed by item no. 9, glove B, thumb sample, glove C, inside back of wrist, glove D, back of--back below little finger...

Establishes the precise extraction sequence from the Rockingham glove, foundational for the DNA results linking that glove to the victims.

Evidence (9)

Informal

Extraction record — Yamauchi's lab document listing the order samples were processed

used to refresh witness recollection

People's 47 (photo item 112)

Bundy blood evidence item with red stain

discussed as part of extraction order

People's 48 (photo item 113)

Bundy blood evidence item with red stain

discussed as part of extraction order

People's 49, 50, 52

Substrate controls for corresponding bloodstain items

discussed — processed immediately after their paired red stain samples

People's 41 and 42 (photo items 106 and 107)

Additional evidence items with substrate controls

discussed — processed toward end of extraction sequence

Informal

Fitzco card cutting — OJ Simpson blood reference sample

discussed — processed last in the extraction sequence

+ 3 more

Notable Exchanges (2)

Rockne Harmon•Barry Scheck•Lance A. Ito

Scheck objects repeatedly to leading questions about the sample processing order; Ito sustains some and overrules others, with Harmon reworking his phrasing each time.

strategic

Rockne Harmon•Collin Yamauchi

Harmon walks Yamauchi through the full extraction sequence using the extraction record, establishing that Simpson's reference blood was processed last — after all crime scene evidence — a point favorable to the prosecution's contamination narrative.

methodical

Objections

7 objections (2 sustained, 4 overruled)

Proceeding 6187 • 65 utterances • Prosecution witness

Criminal Trial

Department 103