Frame by Frame Analysis: Better than Just Hitting Play
Video images can provide significant information about what occurred during an event and about the people involved. Being an objective observer, the video camera records the events that occurred before it to the best of its ability, without favor or prejudice to the people depicted. It is for these reasons that video evidence...
Stay Within Your Lane!: The Importance of Knowing Your Boundaries as an Expert Witness
When an expert witness is tendered before the court, the attorney presenting the witness must advise the judge as to the specific field(s) of expertise in which the attorney wants the witness qualified. At the conclusion of the qualification voir dire, in which the proposed expert’s qualifications are examined, and after hearing legal...
Case Study: Failure to Authenticate Surveillance Video Leads to Exclusion of Evidence
Authentication is a prerequisite for the admissibility of video evidence. As discussed in several articles on this website, failure by the tendering party to lead sufficient reliable evidence to prove authentication will result in a ruling of inadmissibility. Such was the case in the May 21, 2018 ruling in State of New York v....
A Brave New World?: Authenticating Electronic Evidence and the Impact of FRE Rule 902(14)
In the United States, the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) govern many aspects of evidence admissibility in federal cases. Given that many states have adopted portions of the FRE, the reach of the federal rules is quite expansive. The requirement for authentication is set out in Rule 901, discussed in an earlier article. Rule...
Always Have a Plan “B” For Your Courtroom Presentation
In my “Courtroom Testimony for Expert Witnesses” course, I discuss the importance of multi-modal learning. While the delivery of an expert witness’s evidence will, by necessity, be largely testimonial, it is essential that the expert witness incorporate other methods of delivering the evidence as well in order to be a truly effective communicator....
Peer Review: The Obligations of the Peer Reviewer and the Expert
Peer review is an often overlooked but important step in the finalization of an expert report. Once an expert has completed his/her expert report, especially one in which the expert has formed an opinion or conclusion, it should be given to another expert for peer review. This article will discuss the purposes of...
Narrating Video Evidence: Helping to Tell the Story
Rarely can we expect the trier of fact to watch video evidence and fully understand both the overall picture of what happened and specific pertinent details. The trier of fact does not have the luxury of relevant training and ample time to examine the media. It is for this reason that forensic video...
Does an Expert Witness Need to be Certified?
A question that sometimes arises in the context of expert evidence is whether an expert must be “certified” in order to be an expert witness. There is a frequently espoused view that an expert who has been certified by an organization is better than one who has not been so certified. This quest...
Case Study: Expert Witness Claims Expertise Not Actually Present
In a previous post entitled “Interpreting Video Images: The Role of the Forensic Video Analyst,” I discussed the important role that a forensic video analyst can play in providing expert interpretive evidence in court. The analyst’s job is to assist attorneys and the court in drawing informed and correct conclusions regarding the video...
Interpreting Video Images: The Role of the Forensic Video Analyst
Do you see what I see? Looking at video evidence does not mean that you will actually see all that the video has to offer. Expert interpretation of video evidence is often required in order to properly evaluate and understand the images. Relying on video evidence without expert interpretation risks the failure to...