STATE OF FLORIDA v. KENYATTA BETHLEY , 268 So. 3d 254 ( 2019 )

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING
MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
STATE OF FLORIDA, )
)
Petitioner, )
)
v. ) Case No. 2D18-4143
)
KENYATTA BETHLEY, )
)
Respondent. )
)
Opinion filed April 12, 2019.
Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit
Court for Hillsborough County; Samantha
L. Ward, Judge.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and Elba Caridad Martin,
Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for
Petitioner.
Julianne M. Holt, Public Defender, Tampa,
for Respondent.
KELLY, Judge.
The State petitions for a writ of certiorari to review an order granting
Kenyatta Bethley's motion in limine to exclude from his trial statistical testimony
regarding DNA evidence. We grant the petition and quash the order.
An expert need not be a statistician to testify regarding the statistical
significance of a DNA match. Darling v. State, 808 So. 2d 145, 158 (Fla. 2002).
However, the expert must "demonstrate a sufficient knowledge of the database
grounded in the study of authoritative sources." Id. (quoting Murray v. State, 692 So. 2d
157, 164 (Fla. 1997)); see also Butler v. State, 842 So. 2d 817, 828 (Fla. 2003) ("[A]
sufficient knowledge of the authorities pertinent to the database is an adequate basis on
which to render an opinion."). We conclude the State's expert satisfied this requirement
and therefore, the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law in
excluding her testimony. See State v. Pettis, 520 So. 2d 250, 253 (Fla. 1988) (stating
that certiorari is the appropriate remedy to review nonfinal pretrial orders in criminal
cases which negatively affect the State's ability to prosecute).
Petition granted.
SILBERMAN and VILLANTI, JJ., Concur.
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