Court Filing
EXHIBIT S-7 Amended Supplemental Expert Disclosure: Rylene Nowlin The State has previously disclosed Idaho State Police Forensic Services Laboratory Manager, Rylene Nowlin, as an expert witness. The State hereby incorporates its previous responses and attachments filed on December 18, 2024, and February 16, 2025, and is hereby supplementing those responses as follows. As previously disclosed, Nowlin will testify about the day-to-day operations of a forensic lab, specifically: (1) accreditation, (2) ensuring quality control, (3) evidence receipt into the laboratory, and (4) evidence handling and storage at the laboratory and adhering to appropriate standards in the field. (1) Accreditation, the accreditation process of creating compliant methods and a quality system, accreditation standards applicable in forensic science specifically ISO 17025 and the forensic supplemental document R221 (A2LA document), and the FBI Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic Casework labs and Forensic Databasing lab, accreditation assessments including frequency, the process of external assessors reviewing all documents and observing casework being performed, as well as the process and frequency of FBI Quality Assurance audits. (2) Ensuring quality control — annual training, annual manual reviews and quality control activities including quality control tests and controls for reagents, instrumentation and methods, and required certification for all scientists in their specific discipline. (3) Evidence receipt into the laboratory-prelog of evidence by customers into the EXHIBIT S-7 STATE'S EXHIBIT exhibitsticker.com Amended Supplemental Expert Disclosure: Rylene Nowlin (Sealed) 1 S-7 CR01-24-31665 Idaho Laboratory Information Management System (ILIMS), evidence review of information on the item compared to the prelogged information, assignment of a case and item number in ILIMS, (4) Storage of evidence in the laboratory, transfer of evidence in the laboratory, proper storage conditions of evidence and storage of evidence while at the laboratory. In addition, Nowlin will testify regarding the general structure of the Idaho State Police Forensic Services Laboratory. This includes three laboratories (Meridian, Coeur d'Alene, Pocatello) within the system with a fourth (Jerome) planned for 2025. Nowlin will discuss the disciplines offered in each lab. Nowlin will discuss the DNA casework analysis and DNA database exclusively performed at the laboratory in Meridian, Idaho, and the types of evidence submitted for each discipline will also be discussed. Nowlin will also testify to touch DNA and transfer of DNA. Specifically, Nowlin will testify to the characteristics and nature of touch DNA, including how it is deposited and transferred to an item of evidence; the methods used to collect and preserve touch DNA samples from items of evidence; the procedures and protocols used by forensic scientists to extract and analyze touch DNA; the manner in which results from touch DNA samples are interpreted; and the reliability of touch DNA analysis and its acceptability in the field of forensic science. Nowlin will also testify to the potential for DNA to transfer between an individual and an object (s), including the distinction between primary and secondary transfer and the factors influencing the likelihood of transfer. EXHIBIT S-7 Amended Supplemental Expert Disclosure: Rylene Nowlin (Sealed) 2