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Changing The Culture Of Disclosure And Forensics, Valena Beety Feb 2017

Changing The Culture Of Disclosure And Forensics, Valena Beety

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This Essay responds to Professor Brandon Garrett’s Constitutional Regulation of Forensic Evidence, and, in particular, his identification of the dire need to change the culture of disclosing forensic evidence. My work on forensics is—similarly to Garrett’s—rooted in both scholarship and litigation of wrongful convictions. From this perspective, I question whether prosecutors fully disclose forensics findings and whether defense attorneys understand these findings and their impact on a client’s case. To clarify forensic findings for the entire courtroom, this Essay suggests increased pre-trial discovery and disclosure of forensic evidence and forensic experts. Forensic analysts largely work in police-governed labs; therefore, …


Reply To Miriam Baer And Michael Doucette’S Reviews Of Two Models Of Pre-Plea Discovery In Criminal Cases, Jenia I. Turner, Allison D. Redlich Dec 2016

Reply To Miriam Baer And Michael Doucette’S Reviews Of Two Models Of Pre-Plea Discovery In Criminal Cases, Jenia I. Turner, Allison D. Redlich

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.


Virginia Prosecutors’ Response To Two Models Of Pre-Plea Discovery In Criminal Cases: An Empirical Comparison, Michael R. Doucette Sep 2016

Virginia Prosecutors’ Response To Two Models Of Pre-Plea Discovery In Criminal Cases: An Empirical Comparison, Michael R. Doucette

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.


Constitutional Regulation Of Forensic Evidence, Brandon L. Garrett Jun 2016

Constitutional Regulation Of Forensic Evidence, Brandon L. Garrett

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


Epigenetics And Toxic Torts: How Epidemiological Evidence Informs Causation, Kerriann Laubach Apr 2016

Epigenetics And Toxic Torts: How Epidemiological Evidence Informs Causation, Kerriann Laubach

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


How Sound Is The Science? Applying Daubert To Biomechanical Experts’ Injury Causation Opinions, Loren Peck Apr 2016

How Sound Is The Science? Applying Daubert To Biomechanical Experts’ Injury Causation Opinions, Loren Peck

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


Criminal Adjudication, Error Correction, And Hindsight Blind Spots, Lisa Kern Griffin Jan 2016

Criminal Adjudication, Error Correction, And Hindsight Blind Spots, Lisa Kern Griffin

Washington and Lee Law Review

Concerns about hindsight in the law typically arise with regard to the bias that outcome knowledge can produce. But a more difficult problem than the clear view that hindsight appears to provide is the blind spot that it actually has. Because of the conventional wisdom about error review, there is a missed opportunity to ensure meaningful scrutiny. Beyond the confirmation biases that make convictions seem inevitable lies the question whether courts can see what they are meant to assess when they do look closely for error. Standards that require a retrospective showing of materiality, prejudice, or harm turn on what …


Ultracrepidarianism In Forensic Science: The Hair Evidence Debacle, David H. Kaye Sep 2015

Ultracrepidarianism In Forensic Science: The Hair Evidence Debacle, David H. Kaye

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

For over 130 years, scientific sleuths have inspected hairs under microscopes. Late in 2012, the FBI, the Innocence Project, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers joined forces to review thousands of microscopic hair comparisons performed by FBI examiners over several of those decades. The results have been astounding. Based on the first few hundred cases in which hairs were said to match, it appears that examiners exceeded the limits of science in over 90% of their reports or testimony. The disclosure of this statistic has led to charges that the FBI faked an entire field of forensic science, …


Contents May Have Shifted: Disentangling The Best Evidence Rule From The Rule Against Hearsay, Colin Miller Dec 2014

Contents May Have Shifted: Disentangling The Best Evidence Rule From The Rule Against Hearsay, Colin Miller

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The rule against hearsay covers a statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted but does not cover a statement offered for another purpose. Meanwhile, the Best Evidence Rule states that a party seeking to prove the content of a writing, recording, or photograph must produce the original or account for its nonproduction. Does this mean that the Rule is inapplicable when a party seeks to prove something other than the truth of the matter asserted in a writing, recording or photograph? Most courts have answered this question in the affirmative. This essay argues these courts are wrong.


The Use And Misuse Of Econometric Evidence In Employment Discrimination Cases, Joni Hersch, Blair Druhan Bullock Sep 2014

The Use And Misuse Of Econometric Evidence In Employment Discrimination Cases, Joni Hersch, Blair Druhan Bullock

Washington and Lee Law Review

Statistical analyses play an important role in employment discrimination cases, as the Supreme Court has long recognized. Regression analysis can help a plaintiff establish a claim of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by showing that, even when controlling for relevant characteristics, individuals of a certain class were treated differently than other employees or applicants. It can also help a defendant rebut such a claim by showing that differential treatment was due to characteristics other than being a member of a protected class. Yet, too often, opposing experts present invalid rebuttal evidence that the jury …


A Return To The Grand Jury To Promote A Zen Zeal In Prosecutors, Melanie D. Wilson Apr 2008

A Return To The Grand Jury To Promote A Zen Zeal In Prosecutors, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

DNA evidence has freed at least 209 convicted people. Sometimes DNA evidence exonerates a person. Other times, it does not. When it does not exonerate, a prosecutor must decide whether to persist in further prosecution of the defendant. I propose a fresh, but simple, solution for prosecutors who face such choices. To protect the interests of defendants and victims, and to assuage society’s need for fair and accurate outcomes, prosecutors should represent these cases to a grand jury. The grand jury is an easily convened neutral party that can dispassionately evaluate the evidence, old and new, and determine whether a …


A Non-Romantic View Of Expert Testimony, Lewis H. Larue, David S. Caudill Jan 2004

A Non-Romantic View Of Expert Testimony, Lewis H. Larue, David S. Caudill

Scholarly Articles

The Daubert trilogy as a whole deflects attention away from abstract identifications of scientific validity (including the demarcation controversy aimed at rooting out allegedly junk science from the courtroom), and toward the application of expertise to the particular case at hand. That emphasis on application is reflected as well in post-trilogy scholarship, wherein we see three patterns or contours that both help quiet the debates and provide useful guidance to judges and lawyers. First, there is a pragmatic recognition, in various forms, that the focus should be on how science is being used rather than on science in the abstract. …


Why Judges Applying The Daubert Trilogy Need To Know About The Social, Institutional, And Rhetorical -- And Not Just The Methodological Aspects Of Science, Lewis H. Larue, David S. Caudill Jan 2003

Why Judges Applying The Daubert Trilogy Need To Know About The Social, Institutional, And Rhetorical -- And Not Just The Methodological Aspects Of Science, Lewis H. Larue, David S. Caudill

Scholarly Articles

In response to the claim that many judges are deficient in their understanding of scientific methodology, this Article identifies in recent cases (i) a pragmatic perspective on the part of federal appellate judges when they reverse trial judges who tend to idealize science (i.e., who do not appreciate the local and practical goals and limitations of science), and (ii) an educational model of judicial gatekeeping that results in reversal of trial judges who defer to the social authority of science (i.e., who mistake authority for reliability). Next, this Article observes that courts (in the cases it analyzes) are not interested …


United States V. Leon, Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1983

United States V. Leon, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


Bose Corp. V. Consumers Union Of United States, Inc., Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1983

Bose Corp. V. Consumers Union Of United States, Inc., Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


Statistics In The Potential Problems In The Presentation Of Statistical Evidence Jan 1983

Statistics In The Potential Problems In The Presentation Of Statistical Evidence

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


A Judicial Perspective On Opinion Evidence Under The Federal Rules, George C. Pratt Mar 1982

A Judicial Perspective On Opinion Evidence Under The Federal Rules, George C. Pratt

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


Forensic Hair Analysis: The Case Against The Underemployment Of Scientific Evidence, Edward J. Imwinkelried Jan 1982

Forensic Hair Analysis: The Case Against The Underemployment Of Scientific Evidence, Edward J. Imwinkelried

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


Grand Jury: A Prosecutor Need Not Present Exculpatory Evidence Jan 1981

Grand Jury: A Prosecutor Need Not Present Exculpatory Evidence

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


United States V. Payner, Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1979

United States V. Payner, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


North Carolina V. Butler, Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1978

North Carolina V. Butler, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


Parker V. Randolph, Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1978

Parker V. Randolph, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


Commonwealth Of Massachusetts V. White, Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1978

Commonwealth Of Massachusetts V. White, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


Oregon V. Hass, Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1974

Oregon V. Hass, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


The Admissibility Of Prior-Crimes Evidence In Prosecutions For Child Abuse Mar 1974

The Admissibility Of Prior-Crimes Evidence In Prosecutions For Child Abuse

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


Schneble V. Florida, Lewis F. Powell Jr. Oct 1971

Schneble V. Florida, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.


The Proposed Federal Rules Of Evidence-How Will They Affect The Trial Of Cases?, Charles B. Blackmar Mar 1970

The Proposed Federal Rules Of Evidence-How Will They Affect The Trial Of Cases?, Charles B. Blackmar

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


An Attorney In Possession Of Evidence Incriminating His Client Mar 1968

An Attorney In Possession Of Evidence Incriminating His Client

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


Opinion Evidence Or Facts, Lucile P. Lacy Mar 1966

Opinion Evidence Or Facts, Lucile P. Lacy

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.


Derivative Evidence Under Mcnabb-Mallory Sep 1964

Derivative Evidence Under Mcnabb-Mallory

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.