In this Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case, Justice C.J. Gants held that the defendant was denied her right to effective assistance of counsel when her attorney failed to seek public funds in order to retain an expert witness to offer an opinion as to the cause of head injuries sustained by defendant’s infant child. The …
Resources
Webinar: Head Trauma, Comprehension, and Intoxication
The National Association for Public Defense (NAPD) is hosting this 90 minute webinar, which will be accessible to the public, with a $25 charge for nonmembers. Click here to register for this event. Description: The objective of this presentation is to help criminal attorneys and investigators understand the effect of head trauma on defendants and …
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State of NY v. Mansell and Ross (2020)
Decision on Frye Motion making a finding that the relevant scientific community consists of the fields of forensic science, scientific methodology in studies and statistics, and psychology. The court ruled that the examiner may testify about class characteristics, but may not offer qualitative opinions on matters not adequately supported by the relevant scientific community, including …
U.S. v. Nolan (2020)
In this Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case, Judge Jed Rakoff finds ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to challenge the unreliable eyewitness identification evidence in the case. Counsel failed to consult with an expert, abandoned a pre-trial motion to preclude the eyewitness identification evidence, and failed to move to exclude a prejudicial photo …
Example Facebook Search Warrant and Non-Disclosure Order
Example Subpoena Language for Call Detail Records
Example Discovery Items Pertaining to Mobile Device, Computers, and Cloud Service Forensics
In Glowing Colors: Seeing the Spread of Drug Particles in a Forensic Lab
Discusses the paper below and shows black-light videos that help illustrate the risk of cross contamination in a forensic drug lab. E. Sisco, M.E. Staymates, A. Burns. An easy to implement approach for laboratories to visualize particle spread during the handling and analysis of drug evidence. Forensic Chemistry. Published online March 11, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.forc.2020.100232
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Preparing Testimony about Cellebrite UFED in a Daubert or Frye Hearing
This manual is designed to help attorneys prepare themselves and their witnesses for Daubert or related challenges to the admissibility of Cellebrite UFED-extracted mobile device evidence. It contains sample voir dire questions.
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State of Georgia v. Sheila Denton – Order for New Trial
2020 Order granting a motion for a new trial based upon advancements in scientific understanding and American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) guidelines that would compel a different expert opinion if the case were tried today. In 2016, the ABFO Standards and Guidelines were changed significantly to no longer allow a conclusion of “exact match” …
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State v. Koiyan, 841 S.E.2d 351 (2020)
The Court of Appeals found that the trial court erred in admitting testimony of the state’s fingerprint examiner where the expert failed to show he applied reliably applied the relevant methods and principles to the case, in violation of N.C. Evid. Rule 702(a)(3). Because the defendant failed to object at trial, the issue was reviewed …
Cellebrite Webinars
Cellebrite is offering a series of free online webinars. If you are looking to understand more about cell phone forensics, these programs should offer you a better understanding of what law enforcement or independent experts are able to find when performing a forensic analysis of a cell phone. Fundamentals Matter: Part 1 – Basic Setup …
Forensic Statistics for Lawyers
Part I: QuantificationPart II: Classification Part III: Comparison/Identification Did you ever want to understand what is meant by validity, reliability, accuracy, confidence interval, and similar terms? These webinars will explain those and other concepts in an accessible way. CSAFE researcher and faculty member at the University of California, Irvine Bill Thompson has developed a series of videos as …
NACDL Forensic Science in Criminal Law Webinar Series
NACDL has made available a 10-episode web series covering various topics of forensic science, including DNA, forensic pathology, toxicology, medical evidence, false confessions, and much more.
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Defending Death by Distribution Cases Blog Post
UNC School of Government Criminal Law Blog Post discussing actual and proximate causation, intervening causes, multiple drug cases, pre-existing conditions, and joint users by Phil Dixon. Published in Jan. 2020.