North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services
// by Alec Rees
The National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Forensic Technology Center of Excellence published a Digital Evidence Policies and Procedures Manual to be used as a guide for law enforcement agencies in developing manuals of their own. The manual contains procedures for handling and retaining digital evidence, information about what should be documented in lab reports, and …
NIJ Digital Evidence Policies and Procedures ManualRead More
// by Alec Rees
A new installment of the Stetson Law Crime Scene to Courtroom webinar series, Emerging Issues in the Evolution of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and National Reform is presented by Lynn Robitaille Garcia, General Counsel for the Texas Commission on Forensic Science. Over the course of the webinar, Ms. Garcia describes the changes that have …
// by Alec Rees
This presentation, now available to view for free, was given as a part of the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence’s (CSAFE) 2020 All Hands Meeting. The meeting brings together researchers, forensic partners, and interested community members to discover potential areas for collaboration, highlight the organization’s achievements, and discuss goals for the future. …
// by Alec Rees
On May 19th, 2020 the North Carolina Court of Appeals released its opinion in the case of State v. Sasek. Mr. Sasek was convicted in March of 2019 of possession with intent to sell or deliver a schedule II controlled substance and sale of methamphetamine, which led to the revocation of his probation. Defense counsel …
// by Sarah Ammons
The court held that it was not plain error for the analyst to testify that GCMS testing is used to confirm results of presumptive testing but not to testify that GCMS was performed in the case at hand.
// by Alec Rees
In this County Court (Monroe County, New York) case, Judge James J. Piampiano ordered a new trial for the defendant, who was previously convicted of Murder in the Second Degree, holding that newly discovered evidence regarding Shaken Baby Syndrome warranted vacatur. The court concluded that expert witness testimony based on a shift in medical consensus …
// by Alec Rees
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 …
// by Alec Rees
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 …
Webinar: Head Trauma, Comprehension, and IntoxicationRead More
// by Sarah Olson
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 …
// by Sarah Olson
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 …
// by Sarah Olson
// by Sarah Olson
// by Sarah Olson
// by Sarah Olson
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
In Glowing Colors: Seeing the Spread of Drug Particles in a Forensic LabRead More
// by Sarah Olson
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.
Preparing Testimony about Cellebrite UFED in a Daubert or Frye HearingRead More