Arson
- United States v. Hebshie, 4/12/2019754 F.Supp. 2d 89 (2010). This opinion by Judge Nancy Gertner is a must-read regarding standards of representation in arson cases. The opinion provides useful information on Daubert hearings, cause and origin testimony, burn patterns, canine evidence and laboratory analysis.
Bite Mark
- Cases Where DNA Revealed that Bite Mark Analysis Led to Wrongful Arrests and Convictions, 4/16/2019Article by the Innocence Project identifying concerns with bite mark analysis and discussing five cases where individuals were convicted based largely on bite mark analysis, only to be proven innocent through DNA years later.
- Criminal Law – Expert Testimony on Bite Marks, 1/1/1981A law review article on State v. Temple, 302 N.C. 1 (1981) where the NC Supreme Court held that testimony regarding bite marks identification analysis is admissible as long as the trial court can verify the scientific methods used were accurate and reliable. Includes a summary of the case, background, and an analysis of the …
- State of Georgia v. Sheila Denton – Order for New Trial, 4/19/20202020 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” …
- State v. Trogdon, 9/20/2011715 S.E.2d 635, N.C.App., September 20, 2011 (NO. COA10-1344) Defendant argued that the forensic odontologist improperly invaded the province of the jury by testifying that the defendant caused the bite mark on the child. The court held that even if the specific assertions that the defendant was the one who made the bite marks were …
Child Abuse Allegations
- Aleman v. Village of Hanover Park, 4/16/2011662 F.3d 897 (2011). 1983 claim where 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recognizes an interim lucid period between shaking and collapse
- Commonwealth v. Millien (2016), 5/19/2020In 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 …
- People v. Bailey (2014), 5/19/2020In 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 …
- State v. Bailey, 4/16/2014This 2014 NY decision grants a new trial to the Defendant. The decision describes how new medical research casts doubts on the Shaken Baby Syndrome hypothesis and shows that short falls (which this case involved) can cause death.
Crime Scene Investigation
- State v. Denton, COA18-742 (2019), 6/4/2019Felony death by vehicle case where the trooper accident reconstruction expert who analyzed the accident could not reach a conclusive expert opinion about who was driving. An officer provided lay opinion testimony based on the same information. The court concluded: “the facts about the accident and measurements available were simply not sufficient to support an …
Detection Dogs
- State v. Dail (unpublished), 11/15/2011No. COA 11-384 Defendant’s Brief contains caselaw regarding canine sniffs and Fourth Amendment protections.
- Supreme Court: Alert by a Trained or Certified Drug Dog Normally Provides Probable Cause, 2/20/2013UNC School of Government blog post by Jeff Welty that explains the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 holding in Florida v. Harris. Harris holds that when a trained and certified drug dog alerts on a vehicle, that normally provides probable cause to search the car, even if there are no records regarding the dog’s performance in the field. …
DNA
- State v. Phillips, __ N.C. App. __, __ S.E.2d __ (Dec. 3, 2019), 12/3/2019New trial ordered where State Crime Lab forensic scientist was required to testify about DNA sample despite her insistence that the testimony was not scientifically valid. Court of Appeals found that the testimony was expert opinion testimony and did not satisfy prongs 1 or 2 of Rule 702 where the expert was asked to testify …
- Supreme Court Upholds Taking DNA Upon Arrest, 6/4/2013UNC School of Government blog post by Jeff Welty on the Supreme Court case Maryland v. King which allows the taking of DNA from arrestees.
Drug Analysis
- False Positives Equal False Justice, 4/15/2008A California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ) report by John Kelly. The report is largely based on the research of Dr. Frederic Whitehurst who tested field drug test kits and exposed and documented that they render false positives with legal substances. The report focuses on the Duquenois-Levine and KN Reagent tests used to test for …
- State v. Ward 364 N.C. 133 (2010), 6/17/2010A NC Supreme Court decision finding the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the State’s expert to visually identify drugs using an insufficiently established method. The court found the expert’s use of information in Micromedex literature to make drug identification did not meet the first prong of Rule 702 as it was never established …
- Sufficiency vs. Admissibility: Drug I.D. after State v. Osborne, 9/17/2019In August, the North Carolina Supreme Court weighed in on drug identification once again in State v. Osborne, ___ N.C. ___ (August 16, 2019). Defender Educator Phil Dixon discusses admissibility and sufficiency of evidence in drug cases in this blog post.
- Weighing Marijuana Reference, 4/15/2019This document provides the relevant statutes and summarizes the case law on the issue of how marijuana should be weighed. It addresses issues such as whether water weight and mature stalks should be included. Links to the State Crime Lab’s relevant procedures are provided, as well as contact information of experts who are available to …
- What’s In a (Trade) Name?, 7/7/2015Today, the court of appeals reversed a defendant’s drug convictions because the indictments identified the controlled substances in question using terms that are widely used to describe the drugs, but that are neither the chemical names listed in the controlled substance schedules nor – according to the court – “trade names” for the drugs. Because …
Drug Recognition Experts
- Burton v. Kentucky, 300 S.W.3d 126 (Ky. 2009), 1/1/2009Testimony from a DRE was improper where the DRE did not personally observe the defendant but instead based his opinion on review of records.
- State of Maryland v. Charles David Brightful, et al, No. K-10-04-259, Circuit Court for Carroll County, MD March 5, 2012, 3/5/2012The Circuit Court for Carroll County, Maryland held that DRE evidence should be excluded. The court held that identification and classification by DREs “is not generally accepted as valid and reliable in the relevant scientific community.” See the opinion for a summary of expert testimony regarding DRE examinations which raises questions about the accuracy of …
- State v. Sasek, 5/22/2020On 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 …
Experts
- State v. Denton, COA18-742 (2019), 6/4/2019Felony death by vehicle case where the trooper accident reconstruction expert who analyzed the accident could not reach a conclusive expert opinion about who was driving. An officer provided lay opinion testimony based on the same information. The court concluded: “the facts about the accident and measurements available were simply not sufficient to support an …
- State v. Sasek, 5/22/2020On 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 …
Eyewitness ID
- State v. Boozer, 210 N.C. App. 371 (2011), 3/15/2011NC Court of Appeals found the trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion to suppress asserting that an eyewitness’s pretrial identification was unduly suggestive and found no violation of the EIRA where the eyewitness identified the defendant by looking through the pages of The Slammer newspaper.
- State v. Cotton, 4/22/2019Ronald Cotton was wrongfully convicted of two rapes and burglaries in 1985 and 1987. Although innocent, Ronald Cotton served over 10 years in prison, primarily due to erroneous eyewitness identification. DNA testing in 1995 revealed that evidence from one victim did not match Cotton, but instead matched with another man who had confessed to the …
- State v. Lawson, 352 Ore. 724 (2012), 11/29/2012On Nov. 29, 2012, the Oregon Supreme Court issued an important decision, which places the burden on the state to establish the reliability of the eyewitness identification and recognizes and requires courts to act in a manner consistent with the latest scientific research on eyewitness identification and memory. This opinion may be useful in NC …
- State v. Lee, 154 N.C. App. 410, 417 (2002), 1/1/2002Expert testimony on eyewitness identification has been excluded in several cases, so counsel should be prepared for a challenge to its admissibility. Trial courts will weigh whether the proposed testimony is case specific and has probative value, and will consider such factors as whether the expert interviewed the eyewitnesses, visited the crime scene and observed …
- State v. Rawls, 700 S.E.2d 112 (2010), 1/1/2010In State v. Rawls, 700 S.E.2d 112 (2010), the Court of Appeals held that “show-ups” are distinct from line-ups, and, therefore, are not subject to the guidelines set out in EIRA. Rather, the court applied the North Carolina common law test for determining if the show-up was proper which is a two-step inquiry described above: (1) …
- State v. Rogers, 355 N.C. 420, 432 (2002), 4/23/2019The test in North Carolina for identification procedures prior to the enactment of the EIRA was stated in State v. Rogers, 355 N.C. 420, 432 (2002) as follows: Whether an identification procedure is unduly suggestive depends on the totality of the circumstances. State v. Pigott, 320 N.C. 96, 99 (1987). A due process analysis requires a …
- U.S. v. Nolan (2020), 4/26/2020In 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 …
Fingerprints
- Brandon Mayfield Case, 5/1/2004In May 2004, the FBI arrested Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield based on an erroneous fingerprint identification. FBI analysts incorrectly identified a fingerprint left inside a plastic bag related to the Madrid train bombing as matching Mr. Mayfield.
- George Allen case, 11/1/2012Mr. Allen’s 1983 rape and murder conviction in MO was reversed in Nov. 2012, though the state is appealing the reversal. In this case, it was discovered that there are seven usable fingerprints from the crime scene that do not match anyone involved, though police testified at trial that the fingerprints matched the victim, the …
- Lana Canen case, 11/23/2012Ms. Canen’s 2005 murder conviction in IN was overturned in Nov. 2012 after she spent eight years in prison. A fingerprint that was a crucial piece of evidence in the prosecution’s case against her was found not to be hers. An Arizona fingerprint expert discovered that a sheriff’s detective misidentified a fingerprint found on a …
- Shirley McKie case, 1/1/1999In 1997, Scottish police constable Shirley McKie’s fingerprints were found at a crime scene that her department was investigating. After denying that she had ever been to the crime scene, she was found guilty of perjury and her reputation was ruined. It was determined in 1999 that the fingerprints were not hers and she was …
- State v. Irick, 291 N.C. 480, 491-492 (1977), 4/24/2019In cases where fingerprint evidence is the only evidence connecting the defendant to the crime, attorneys should consider the Irick rule. State v. Irick, 291 N.C. 480, 491-492 (1977) holds that “[f]ingerprint evidence, standing alone, is sufficient to withstand a motion for nonsuit only if there is ‘substantial evidence of circumstances from which the jury can …
- State v. Koiyan, COA19-951 (April 7, 2020), 4/15/2020The 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 …
- State v. McPhaul, 256 N.C. App. 303 (2017), 11/7/2017The Court of Appeals applied the new Daubert test for expert testimony and held that trial court abused its discretion by allowing the State’s expert witness’s testimony about fingerprint evidence. A petition for discretionary review was granted by the NC Supreme Court which subsequently found that discretionary review was improvidently granted, leaving intact the Court …
- Willie Grimes case, 1/1/2011A three-judge panel in NC decided Mr. Grimes was innocent of a 1987 rape conviction for which he had served more than 24 years. Fingerprints from the crime scene did not match Grimes, but the State withheld that evidence until the trial. In 2011, the prints were uploaded into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System and …
Firearms
- State of NY v. Mansell and Ross (2020), 4/27/2020Decision 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 …
Measurement Uncertainty
- People v. Jabrocki, 5/6/201179th District Court for the County of Mason, Michigan – May 6, 2011 opinion holding that “calculation of an uncertainty budget or error rate and the reporting of the same is an essential element of the scientific methodology for analyzing blood alcohol content using gas chromatography” and denying the prosecution’s Motion to Admit the blood …
Mental Health
- The Defenses of Voluntary Intoxication, Diminished Capacity, and Unconsciousness, 5/8/2008For the 2008 Public Defender Spring Conference, Lisa Miles surveys 186 cases in which the court found evidence sufficient or not sufficient to warrant an instruction on voluntary intoxication, diminished capacity, or unconsciousness.