Kogut v. County of Nassau, 894 F. Supp. 2d 230

Daubert motions in a wrongful conviction case focus on PMRB evidence from Fusco homicide.
Fusco disappeared 1984; body found five weeks later; 1986 convictions based on Q8 hairs in Restivo’s van.
DNA later excluded the defendants; Kogut retried 2005 and acquitted; indictments against Restivo and Halstead dismissed; plaintiffs filed wrongful conviction suit.
Plaintiffs’ PMRB experts are Houck, Petraco, and De Forest; Defendants’ statistician Kadane is offered as an expert.
Court addresses admissibility under Rule 702 and Daubert, allowing Plaintiffs’ PMRB opinions with timing caveats but excluding Kadane’s statistical testimony.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Plaintiffs’ PMRB experts may testify about timing	Plaintiffs’ Experts should testify on PMRB timing	Kadane challenges reliability of PMRB timing	Plaintiffs’ Experts may testify on PMRB timing with limits on certainty
Whether Kadane may testify about PMRB and hair timing	Kadane's statistics support interpretation of PMRB	Kadane lacks hair microscopy expertise and reliability	Kadane’s testimony excluded
Whether PMRB theory is scientifically admissible under Daubert	PMRB supported by literature and community standards	PMRB not sufficiently proven or testable	PMRB admissible with caveats; not testable for scientific certainty

Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (U.S. 1993) (gatekeeping standard for scientific evidence)
Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (U.S. 1999) (extends Daubert to technical/other specialized knowledge)
In re Ephedra Prods. Liab. Litig., 393 F. Supp. 2d 181 (S.D.N.Y. 2005) (discusses reliability assessment beyond scientific evidence)
Amorgianos v. Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp., 303 F.3d 256 (2d Cir. 2002) (establishes gatekeeping and reliability expectations)
United States v. Glynn, 578 F. Supp. 2d 567 (S.D.N.Y. 2008) (illustrates limits of certainty in expert testimony)