California High Court Upholds Forensic Hair Comparison Evidence

The California Supreme Court has upheld forensic hair comparison evidence against a challenge from a criminal defendant who argued that the evidence was so unreliable as to violate his Due Process rights. Interestingly, the defendant raised no Kelly/Frye argument against the admissibility of the evidence on appeal, and no Due Process arguments at trial. The Kelly/Frye objections that he did raise at trial were deemed sufficient to preserve the Due Process arguments that he raised only on appeal. See People v. Huggins, No. S037006 (Calif. Apr. 10, 2006).