FSN: Forensic Science News » criminal defense attorney

Crime Lab Staff to Take the 5th

Forensics Guy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:00:23 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Criminal defense attorneys are always face roadblocks when they try to exercise their client’s constitutional right to confront their accuser. In the case of breath alcohol testing, this usually means the defense isn’t allowed access to the “source code” for the breath tester…that is the computer programming that controls the behavior of

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Judge Orders Discovery of Documents Realted to San Francisco Crime Lab Controversy

Forensics Guy — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:00:35 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Apparently at least one San Francisco judge is concerned about the lack of communication between the police, prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys in San Francisco, regarding the controversy related to the San Francisco PD Crime Lab drug testing section.

A San Francisco Judge has ordered the police and the District Attorney to turn over

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San Francisco Evidence Theft, and Police Cover-up

Forensics Guy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:00:29 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Apparently a drug analyst in San Francisco was skimming some drugs off the top of her cases…

…25 drug cases dismissed at the Hall of Justice because of questions surrounding the police crime lab and a former technician there who is suspected of stealing and using drug evidence.

On Tuesday, police said they were shutting

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Another Example of Why Greater Transparency is Needed in Crime Labs

Forensics Guy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:00:08 +0000

FGI-FSN —

A 1993 homicide conviction was recently overturned by a judicial review panel. The reason? The state didn’t disclose information to the criminal defense attorney (or even the jury), that would potentially exculpatory to the defendant.

Remember in the United States we have an adversarial legal system. Attorneys for both sides basically

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More info on the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences

Forensics Guy — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:00:21 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Apparently criminal defense attorneys think highly of the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences (SWIFS). If you recall, we posted an entry a while back about SWIFS. Briefly an employee was terminated for purportedly not passing training milestones. The ex-employee contends he was fired for whistle-blowing about deficiencies in the crime

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Melendez-Diaz Under Attack by Prosecutors

Forensics Guy — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:00:16 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Apparently prosecutors don’t like criminal defense attorneys to cross-examine forensic scientists. They’d rather just have a piece of paper in court that can’t be cross-examined. To that goal the recent Melendez-Diaz decision is up for review.

Prosecutors hope that the new Justice Sotomayor (an ex-prosecutor herself) will side with them, throw due process

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DUI Attorney Interviewed Regarding Blood Test Errors

Forensics Guy — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:00:32 +0000

FGI-FSN —

If you recall a while back there was breaking news about the Colorado Springs Crime Lab reanalyzing all their 2009 blood alcohol cases after finding errors that showed an ongoing high bias.

Below is an interview of a prominent Colorado Springs DUI Attorney Timothy R. Bussey.

Timothy R. Bussey’s phone started ringing when Colorado Springs

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Sheriff Obtains 3D Laser Scanner for Crime Scenes

Forensics Guy — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:37:54 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Imagine prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys being able to virtually walk a jury around a crime scene, so demonstrate their case. Seems that a North Carolina Sheriff’s Department is getting their hands on technology capable of doing just that.

The Iredell County commissioners had a diverse array of matters come before

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Phoenix Police Investigate Phoenix Crime Lab

Forensics Guy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:16:19 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Criminal defense attorneys are going to love this. Anytime you have a situation where evidence is mishandled, it questions the reliability of forensic test results. Apparently the Phoenix Police Department is investigating claims that crime lab staff left evidence behind at crime scenes, and threw away fingerprint evidence.

PHOENIX — CBS 5 News obtained

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How To Find the Right Phoenix DUI Attorney

Forensics Guy — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:28:12 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Part of my practice as a DUI expert witness involves working with Phoenix DUI attorneys. Everything from case reviews, to helping write reports detailing the strengths and weaknesses of the prosecutor and defense attorney’s cases, to expert witness DUI testimony. Regardless of how skilled and knowledgeable your criminal defense attorney is in DUI

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Case Story : Aim High

Forensics Guy — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:00:56 +0000

FGI-FSN —

Military criminal defense attorneys contacted me to aide in the defense of a US serviceman who was charged with committing a drive-by shooting. I reviewed the case material, and said I didn’t think I would be able to help much, because the evidence I needed to examine had been destroyed when the

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10 Ways to Kill Your Own Expert Witness

Forensics Guy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:00:57 +0000

FGI-FSN —

The following article was originally posted in the American Bar Association October Newsletter. There is a LOT of truth to these points:

Ten ways lawyers kill their own experts

Businessman chopping down another businessman. Expert witnesses can make or break a case, but many lawyers inadvertently destroy their experts’ credibility. In the teleconference “Ten

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Air Rifle Homicide

Forensics Guy — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:41:56 +0000

FGI-FSN —

A criminal defense attorney asked me to look into a homicide a few months ago that involved an air rifle as the murder weapon.

The state contended that the defendant shot the victim in an apartment, put their body into a car, and torched it. Then hid/disposed of the air rifle.

The defense theory

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