Pizarro

In 1990, defendant and appellant Michael A. Pizarro was convicted of murder, forcible lewd or lascivious act on a child under age 14, and forcible rape. The case, now on appeal for the second time, presents an unusual procedural posture. In the first appeal, Pizarro contended that the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) evidence against him was inadmissible because the prosecution had failed to demonstrate that the DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) testing conducted by the FBI was generally accepted in the scientific community. At that time, the admissibility of DNA evidence was still being debated, evaluated, and addressed by the appellate courts. We remanded the case for a thorough evidentiary (Kelly) hearing. (People v. Pizarro (1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 57 [ 12 Cal.Rptr.2d 436 ] (Pizarro I).) At that Kelly hearing in 1998, several new issues concerning the reliability and relevance of the DNA evidence presented to the jury were revealed for the first time. The trial court again ruled that the evidence was admissible and reentered the judgment.

After trial, the body of case law on DNA evidence developed further. (See People v. Axell (1991) 235 Cal.App.3d 836 [ 1…