Dan R. Cullison v. Ernest W. Medley

Richard Pendergrass was convicted of two counts of child molesting based in part on DNA evidence showing he was very likely the father of the victims aborted fetus. The States witnesses to this effect were a laboratory supervisor with direct knowledge of the processing of the samples and an expert DNA analyst who used the laboratorys print-outs to render an opinion. Pendergrass contends his rights under the Confrontation Clause were violated because the State did not present the technician who ran the samples through the laboratorys equipment. We conclude that the proof submitted was consistent with the Sixth Amendment as recently detailed in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.