Mississippi Supreme Court Upholds Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

In a lengthy decision confirming the state's adoption of the Daubert standard, the Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the admissibility of testimony on bloodstain pattern analysis in a homicide case. The defendant challenged the testimony partly on the basis that the blood splatter expert merely assumed that the stains in question were from human blood, but testimony from other witnesses had established a foundation for that conclusion. See Jones v. State, No. 2004-KA-00961-SCT (Miss. June 30, 2005).