How have the courts dealt with the handling of swabs taken from a defendant's cheek by the police department?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Richards, B232300 (Cal. App. 2012):

This case is distinguishable from People v. Jimenez (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 75, cited by defendant, in which there was essentially no testimony as to the handling of swabs taken from the defendant by the police department or as to the transfer of the evidence to the Department of Justice for analysis. The court found "[t]he woefully inadequate chain of custody here raises grave concerns about whether the reference sample with which the criminalist compared the [evidence collected at the scene of the crime] came from [the defendant's] cheek or from some altogether different source with no connection to him at all." (Id. at p. 81.)

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