Is it impermissible to use the term “victim” in a criminal trial? On its surface, the question may appear silly – the trial has a victim [accuser] and defendant [accused]. Yet the issue arises periodically, and was highlighted in recent trials. First, who or what is a victim? According to Black’s Law Dictionary, it is
Despite familiarity with the phrase “less is more,” lawyers can’t seem to help themselves – they ask question after question after question. That this irks jurors is beyond doubt. As one article written by a jurist who interviewed hundreds of jurors reported, The most important theme that came through on evidence presentation: do not repeat
It is no surprise that many feel dismay over the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse and see the verdict as resulting from the American tolerance of gun culture; a nearly all-white jury favoring a white defendant; a baby-faced [in the jurors’ eyes] teen who did not match a stereotype of a ‘gun-toting’ marauder; and a reaction
When is a DNA ‘match,’ the gold standard for forensic discipline, accurate but insufficient? A recent decision of the Connecticut Supreme Court reminds us of the limits of even this most potent form of proof. The power of DNA to prove guilt, establish actual innocence, or ‘raise a reasonable doubt’ cannot be questioned. More than
The poet John Donne wrote the timeless words Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so. But in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the more apt words might be Of our death penalty system BE NOT PROUD, For too many lawyers are not mighty but instead are
There remains either disagreement or misunderstanding as to when an expert may [or must] repeat hearsay relied on to reach an opinion. At a Masters in Trial Advocacy EVIDENCE lecture we presented the following hypothetical: An expert comes to court to testify about how a construction accident occurred. The expert states “I went to
Biases distort judgment. It’s as simple as that. They skew how we think, what we believe, and the value we set when we judge the pain and loss of others. And of course this is not limited to law, lawyering and courts – the problem is everywhere. For example, studies have shown that in medicine
As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently stated, when dealing with hearsay “[t]hings can get complicated pretty quickly…At times, the line that divides hearsay from non-hearsay can be difficult to discern.” Nowhere is that more true than with “state of mind” hearsay; but a great deal of clarity has been brought to the issue as a
The headline was simple – another person exonerated in a case where police claim he had confessed and where two eyewitnesses positively identified him. But absent from the story was any mention of DNA as the exculpating tool. Instead, it was reported as follows: The experts reviewed surveillance footage of the botched heist of Northeast
Memory – how good is it? The law favors memory – we make witnesses tell their stories months or years after an event but preclude use of their diaries or memos to the file. And memory reliability gets ‘politicized‘ – those who prosecute often default in favor of trusting memories long after the event, while