Hernandez trial features testimony on DNA, shell casing, bubble gum

Updated MAR 06, 2015 2:27p ET

FALL RIVER, Mass. Two DNA analysts on Friday gave a primer on genetic profiling to jurors in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial -- setting the stage for the prosecution to match a spent shell casing to the former NFL star.

Prosecutors have asserted that shell casing, which was recovered from a car rented to Hernandez, was fired by the same gun that killed 27-year-old semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. An Enterprise Rent-A-Car employee removed the shell casing -- along with a wad of chewed gum, a piece of paper and a Vitamin Water bottle -- from the Nissan Altima when she cleaned it out after Hernandez returned it.

Investigators later located the four items in a dumpster, with the gum stuck to the shell casing.

Maureen McCabe, a DNA analyst for the Massachusetts State Police crime lab, told the jurors that no two people on the planet have the same DNA except identical twins.

She detailed testing a blood sample from Lloyd and developing his DNA profile. Analyst Lindsay Bird told the jury how she tested a swab of Hernandezs inner cheek to develop his DNA profile. Analyst Diane Fife-Biagiotti told the jury that she examined swabs taken from five shell casings discovered in the field where Lloyd was killed and determined there was an insufficient amount of DNA present to develop a genetic profile.

All of it was aimed at preparing the jury for the results of tests on the shell casing found in the Altima.

Defense attorneys used cross-examination to set the stage for their own points. James Sultan, for instance, suggested to McCabe that DNA testing looks at only 15 points on a chromosome and, therefore, it is impossible to say no two people have that same genetic profile.

We cant test everyone on the earth, McCabe said. So according to all of the scientific research thats whats been found.

Ultimately, Judge E. Susan Garsh told the jury that McCabe was there to testify about her testing, not the science of DNA, and that her answers to Sultan should be disregarded.

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Hernandez trial features testimony on DNA, shell casing, bubble gum