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Appeals court weighs whether substituted DNA testimony violated Pinney————confrontation rights
Summary
At oral argument, defense counsel said admitting DNA through a substitute analyst deprived Frederick Pinney of his confrontation rights and that non‑DNA evidence pointed to a third‑party suspect; the Commonwealth said timing, forensic and witness evidence still made for an "overwhelming" case.
Luke Rosille, arguing for appellant Frederick Pinney, told the Massachusetts Appeals Court on April 3 that the trial court admitted DNA evidence through a substitute analyst in violation of the Sixth Amendment confrontation clause and that, without that testimony, the record would not be "overwhelming" against Mr. Pinney.
"I think the point here is we all agree Mr. Pinney's confrontation rights were violated by the testimony that was used to bring his DNA in this trial," Rosille said, urging the court to assess whether that error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
Rosille focused on what he described as strong third‑party‑culprit evidence pointing to Chris Podgurski, including DNA recovered under the victim's…
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