State v. Williams

I concur in the judgment.

I cannot, however, join in the opinion of the Court this day because I believe it retreats too far from the position often taken — and well taken — by this Court that before we recognize the evidential force of new applications of scientific principles, these should have attained general acceptance in the scientific community.

This standard of “general acceptance” was recognized by the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia in Frye v. United States, 54 App.D.C. 46, 47, 293 F. 1013, 1014 (1923), in which a systolic blood pressure deception test was held to have…