MOLLY O’NEAL

Public Defender

January 20, 2019

Custodian of Records

District Attorney’s Crime Laboratory

Santa Clara County

250 West Hedding Street

San Jose, CA 95110

Dear Custodian of Records:

Under the California Public Records Act § 6250 et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of the following public records:

  • All serology proficiency test records for the past 5 years.
  • All validation studies conducted by the Santa Clara County Crime Lab related to the accuracy and reliability of the ABAcard for detection of p30, including but not limited to:
  • Sensitivity and detection limits of the ABAcard;
  • Specificity of the ABAcard;
  • Use of running and extraction buffers;
  • Testing times and modification of any testing times;
  • Use of ABAcard for detection of p30 on postmortem samples;
  • Use of ABAcard for detection of p30 on rectal, oral, and vaginal swabs;
  • Use of ABAcard for detection of p30 on children;
  • Use of ABAcard for detection of p30 on mixtures containing blood, saliva, urine, feces and/or vomit;
  • Effect of temperature, pH, and/or viscosity;
  • High-dose hook effect;
  • Storage;
  • Degraded samples;
  • False positives;
  • Record of all criminal cases by name of defendant and case number since 2002 where ABAcard p30 testing was performed.
  • Record of all false positive and unexpected (no allegation of sexual assault) ABAcard p30 results for the past 5 years to include the case number and defendant’s name;
  • Any and all corrective action taken by the lab in relation to p30 testing or interpretation of p30 testing results since 2002.
  • Any and all independent consultant contracts for conducting validation studies of p30 methodologies.
  • Any and all grant applications seeking funds to conduct any validation studies of p30 methodologies.
  • Any and all electronic communications via electronic mailing lists, online discussion boards, and threaded internet forums concerning updates and developments in p30 testing and analysis since 2002, sent or received by any employee of the crime lab on any email account, whether it be a work or personal email account.

The California Public Records Act requires a response within ten business days. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Thank you for considering my request.

Sincerely,

Kelley Paul Kulick

Deputy Public Defender

(408) 299-7758

Assistant Public Defenders: Nancy Brewer, Joe Guzman, and Nona Klippen