Case Study: Vehicle Speed Determination from Video Evidence – Video Evidence Excluded Due to Unreliability and Failure to Authenticate
State of New Hampshire v. Witty (unreported, November 25/15, New Hampshire Superior Court, Southern District, Docket No. 226-2014 CR-00568) is an interesting case wherein the state sought to lead vehicle speed determination evidence premised on problematic surveillance video without the use of an expert witness. The defense sought to exclude this evidence. The...
Case Study: Trial Judge Performs Image Comparison When Crown Fails to Present Expert Evidence
In R. v. Ermine, 2018 SKQB 77 (Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench), the trial judge was placed in the position of having to conduct his own video analysis because the Crown failed to call the necessary expert evidence. In this case, three individuals robbed a bar. Two of the robbers pled guilty earlier and...
In Search of the Truth: Why Experts Matter
During my career as a Crown Prosecutor, my goal has been to ascertain the truth as to what happened in any given incident because it is only upon discovering the truth that we can strive for justice, however illusive that goal may be to achieve in practice. In search of the truth, it...
The Court Needs the Best Video Evidence Available: Why a Qualified Forensic Video Expert is Essential
The function of a trial court is to decide the legal dispute that is brought before it by the litigants. In a criminal case, it is the state that charges the defendant with a crime and commences a prosecution. When the case reaches the trial stage, the prosecution (and sometimes the defence) will...
Chicago Murder Prosecution Falters When Expert Fails to Stay Within His Lane
Currently, a murder trial is underway in Chicago wherein former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is charged with unlawfully killing Laquan McDonald by shooting him 16 times. The shooting was captured on police dashcam video. The prosecution called FBI forensic video analyst Mark Messick who had enhanced the video evidence and inserted...
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....