Arizona v. Youngblood

Facts

Nine days after the attack, on November 7, 1983, the police asked the boy to pick out his assailant from a photographic lineup. The body identified respondent as the assailant. Respondent was not located by the police until four weeks later; he was arrested on December 9, 1983. Edward Heller, police criminologist, examined the sexual assault kit. He testified that he followed standard department procedure. The criminologist examined the boy’s clothing and found one semen stain on the boy’s underwear. He tried to obtain blood group substances from both the stain using the ABO technique, but was unsuccessful. Respondent’s principal defense at trial was that the boy had erred in identifying himself as the perpetrator of the crime. In this connection, both a criminologist for the State and an expert witness for respondent testified as to what might have been shown by testes performed on the samples. The jury found respondent guilty as charged.