Court-Martial Trial Practice BlogI have mentioned this article before, Michael D. Risinger, Navigating Expert Reliability: Are Criminal Standards of Certainty Being Left in the Dock?, 64 ALBANY L. REV. 99 (2000). The basic theme: This article shows that, as to proffers of asserted expert testimony, civil defendants win their Daubert reliability challenges to plaintiffs’ proffers most of the […]
Search Results for: eye witness
The Ayes have it
The Supreme Court of Oregon has revisited its 30-year old rule that allowed for admission of eyewitness identification resulting from “unduly suggestive pretrial identification procedures.” State v. Lawson consolidates two cases on the same issue, and decides en banc to recognize significant changes in the understanding and science of eyewitness identification. The court discussed State […]
It was him, some more
As of July 1, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services has promulgated new model policies regarding eyewitness identification, including photo line-ups, following a study that was done showing how many mistaken IDs there are. By statute, all police departments are required to have a policy regarding both live and photo line-ups 19.2-390.02, though the […]
National Institute of Justice worth reading
To Err is Human: Using Science to Reduce Mistaken Eyewitness Identifications Through Police Lineups by Maureen McGough Solving Sexual Assaults: Finding Answers Through Research by Nancy Ritter
It was him, I’m sure
Maybe not. There is quite a bit of research and anecdotal evidence to show that eyewitness testimony can be unreliable. Now New Jersey is in the frontline of making sure a jury is aware of the potential problems with eyewitness testimony. To quote the ABA Journal. New jury instructions in New Jersey will warn that […]
In the Supremes-10012012
(Sans TinyURL) Smith v. Cain is of importance to military practitioners because of the always issue of access to “CID” notes and case files. This is a case about discovery. Apparently the investigators’ notes contained conflicting information to that testified to by the star prosecution witness. The Supremes issued an opinion in Smith v. Cain […]
My alibi is . . .
ACC: Sir, I was at the gym, so I wasn’t where this happened. TC: Objection your honor, we’ve received no notice under Mil. R. Evid. 701. MJ: Sustained. DC: Judge we are only offering alibi through the accused. MJ: The objection is sustained, move on counsel. An accused has a constitutional right to present a […]
In the Supremes
Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog has a preview of Perry v. New Hampshire. At 10 a.m. next Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear one hour of oral argument on a case seeking clarification of when trial courts must exclude the testimony of an eyewitness to a crime because the testimony was unreliable. In the case of […]
More on Perry v. NH
I posted about eyewitness testimony the other day. Here is an article to read. Sandra Guerra Thompson (University of Houston Law Center) has postedJudicial Gatekeeping of Police-Generated Witness Testimony on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article urges a fundamental change in the administration of criminal justice. It calls for an active role for trial […]
CAAF decisions
Several cases have been decided by CAAF. United States v. Baker. Erdmann wrote for himself and Effron and Stucky, with Baker writing in dissent for himself and Ryan. This was action on a government appeal under Article 62, UCMJ. The ACCA reversed an identification suppression made by the military judge. Military Rules of Evidence (M.R.E.) […]