On May 13, 2011 the Appellate Division in State v. Pittman ruled that Phenolphthalein Test, a/k/a Kastle-Meyer Test is inadmissible to prove the presence of blood.
In this case a police detective took a cotton swap from the defendant’s clothing to determine whether the defendant’s cloths had the presence of blood. The Court ruled that there is no evidence that this test was generally accepted in the scientific community. Accordingly, although this test is useful tool in a preliminary investigation of the presence of blood, such a test is not admissible in court, without the testimony of an expert witness by the state. Although some states have allowed the admissible of this test it is based on specific jury instructions which concede that false positives can be triggered by potatoes, rust, bleach, red beet and tomatoes, as well as other common substances.
For a full discussion of this test by the State Police Forensic Laboratory go to:
http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/divorg/invest/Criminalistics.html.
Law Office of Vincent J. Sanzone, Jr.
P.O. Box 261
277 North Broad Street
Elizabeth, N.J. 07207
Tel. No. (908) 354-7706
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