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AFDAA
MEETING MINUTES
August
5 - 6, 2004
DAY
1
The
meeting was opened by Chair George Schiro who introduced Cassie
Johnson from Orchid Cellmark as the first speaker. Cassie presented
research she had done on the utilization of Y-STRs in casework. The
second speaker, Joseph Bessetti from Promega Corporation, gave us
information about taking the mystery out of the PowerPlex Matrix. Joe
Warren of the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort
Worth spoke about the master's degree program at the university.
Graduates are well prepared to enter a forensic laboratory. Melba
Ketchum of DNA Diagnostics encouraged us to use new techniques to get
results from degraded DNA on casework samples. Applied Biosystems'
Laura Post gave us an update on the development of the Yfiler PCR
amplification kit that is now in beta testing. John Krebsbach of the
Albuquerque Police Department Crime Lab went over the changes in the
discussion sections of the Quality Assurance Audit Document. The
validation results of Promega's Y-Plex kit was the presentation by
Erin Donovan of the University of North Texas Health Science Center
at Fort Worth. The first day ended with an open forum discussion of
processing evidence to maximize DNA results.
Day
2
Dennis
Loockerman, CODIS Program Director for Texas, gave us strategies for
searching mixtures in CODIS to open the second day. Texas has almost
180,000 offender profiles and 7100 forensic profiles in the database.
NDIS has around 1.7 million offender samples and 85,000 forensic
profiles. The latest information on the Texas Missing Persons
Database was presented by John Planz of the University of North Texas
Health Science Center at Fort Worth. To date 430 samples have been
processed including 160 unidentified remains. 6 remains have been
identified with one cold match. Texas is the only state utilizing the
new CODISmp (missing persons) software that combines STR and
mitochondrial information.
The
AFDAA business meeting began at 10am and was called to order by
Chair George Schiro. A motion to accept the minutes of the January
meeting was made by Joe Warren, seconded by Gary Molina and approved
by voice vote. The treasurer's report was deferred until the next
meeting. Vice-Chair Wil Young presented 13 persons who met the
requirements for membership. He made a motion to accept these persons
as members that was seconded by John Planz. The motion was approved
by voice vote. Under old business, the proposed changes to the
by-laws were discussed. An e-mail vote will be conducted by the Chair.
The
sparse attendance at the business meeting prompted discussion about
the definition of active and inactive members. A requirement for
meeting attendance by members at least once e very three years in
order to remain active was suggested. Also suggested was a
prohibition against inactive members being allowed to vote on
organization issues. It was noted that the meeting attendance
requirement was presented at the July 2002 meeting but was not
followed with a change to the by-laws. Wil Young and Pam Smith were
asked to draft changes to the by-laws regarding meeting attendance.
George
Schiro will send e-mail ballots to all members regarding the ethics
addition to the by-laws.
The
following individuals were voted into membership of AFDAA:
-Jason
Richard Hitt, FDLE
-Laura
Gahn, Identigene, Inc
-Laura
B. March, University of Nebraska Medical Center
-Elizabeth
Ballard, Harris County Medical Examiner's Office
-Kimberly
A. Forsberg, Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory
-Kevin
Noppinger, Broward Sheriff's Office Crime Laboratory
-George
Duncan, Broward Sheriff's Office Crime Laboratory
-Brent
Hester, Texas Department of Public Safety - Lubbock
-Henry
R. Hollyday, Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory
-Jennifer
Petrash, Harris County Medical Examiner's Office
-Dixie
Hybki, University of North Texas Health Science Center
-Shane
Lumpkiins, Texas Department of Public Safety - Austin
Elections
were held with Brady Mills selected as the new vice-chair and
Catherine Caballero re-elected as treasurer. Thanks to Wil Young for
his service as past vice-chair.
Kerry
Bernal of the University of Nebraska announced that they will have a
DNA analyst position opening in the near future.
A
motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Joe Warren and was
approved by voice vote.
Minutes
respectively submitted by Aliece Watts, Secretary |
