Law Commons^™

Remarks On Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights, Amber Baylor, Valena Beety, Susan Sturm

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The following are remarks from a panel discussion co-hosted by the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law and the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law on the book Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights.

Evidence On Fire, Valena Beety, Jennifer Oliva

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Fire science, a field largely developed by lay “arson investigators,” police officers, or similar first responders untrained in chemistry and physics, has been historically dominated by unreliable methodology, demonstrably false conclusions, and concomitant miscarriages of justice. Fire investigators are neither subject to proficiency testing nor required to obtain more than a high school education. Perhaps surprisingly, courts have largely spared many of the now debunked tenets of fire investigation any serious scientific scrutiny in criminal arson cases. This Article contrasts the courts’ ongoing lax admissibility of unreliable fire-science evidence in criminal cases with their strict exclusion of the same flimsy …

Debunked, Discredited, But Still Defended: Why Prosecutors Resist Challenges To Bad Science And Some Suggestions For Crafting Remedies For Wrongful Conviction Based On Changed Science, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Flawed science has significantly contributed to wrongful convictions. Courts struggle with how to address such convictions when the mistaken science (such as bogus expert claims about the differences between accidental fires and intentionally set ones) significantly affected the guilty verdict but there is no DNA evidence to directly exonerate the accused. My short piece explores why prosecutors often defend bad science. Mistakes in science tend to serve the prosecution, but there are other more subtle factors that explain prosecutors’ reluctance to address flawed forensic testimony. Such reluctance may arise from fondness for the status quo and a resistance to subverting …

Changing The Culture Of Disclosure And Forensics, Valena Beety

Articles by Maurer Faculty

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, this …

Discovering Forensic Fraud, Jennifer Oliva, Valena Beety

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Essay posits that certain structural dynamics, which dominate criminal proceedings, significantly contribute to the admissibility of faulty forensic science in criminal trials. The authors believe that these dynamics are more insidious than questionable individual prosecutorial or judicial behavior in this context. Not only are judges likely to be former prosecutors, prosecutors are “repeat players” in criminal litigation and, as such, routinely support reduced pretrial protections for defendants. Therefore, we argue that the significant discrepancies between the civil and criminal pretrial discovery and disclosure rules warrant additional scrutiny.

In the criminal system, the near absence of any pretrial discovery means …

Empirical Fallacies Of Evidence Law: A Critical Look At The Admission Of Prior Sex Crimes, Aviva A. Orenstein, Tamara Rice Lave

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In a significant break with traditional evidence rules and policies, Federal Rules of Evidence 413-414 allow jurors to use the accused's prior sexual misconduct as evidence of character and propensity to commit the sex crime charged. As reflected in their legislative history, these propensity rules rest on the assumption that sexual predators represent a small number of highly deviant and recidivistic offenders. This view of who commits sex crimes justified the passage of the sex-crime propensity rules and continues to influence their continuing adoption among the states and the way courts assess such evidence under Rule 403. In depending on …

Friends, Gangbangers, Custody Disputants, Lend Me Your Passwords, Aviva Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Whenever parties seek to introduce out-of-court statements, evidentiary issues of hearsay and authentication will arise. As methods of communication expand, the Rules of Evidence must necessarily keep pace. The rules remain essentially the same, but their application vary with new modes of communication. Evidence law has been very adaptable in some ways, and notoriously conservative, even stodgy, in others. Although statements on Facebook and other social media raise some interesting questions concerning the hearsay rule and its exceptions, there has been little concern about applying the hearsay doctrine to such forms of communication. By contrast, such new media have triggered …

Her Last Words: Dying Declarations And Modern Confrontation Jurisprudence, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Dying declarations have taken on increased importance since the Supreme Court indicated that even if testimonial, they may present a unique exception to its new confrontation jurisprudence. Starting with Crawford v. Washington in 2004, the Court has developed strict rules concerning the use of testimonial statements made by unavailable declarants. Generally, testimonial statements (those made with the expectation that they will be used to prosecute the accused) may be admitted only if they were previously subject to cross examination. The only exceptions appear to be dying declarations and forfeiture by wrongdoing if the accused intentionally rendered the declarant unavailable.

This …

Sex, Threats, And Absent Victims: The Lessons Of Regina V. Bedingfield For Modern Confrontation And Domestic Violence Cases, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In 2004, Crawford v. Washington, authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, revolutionized the law of confrontation by requiring that, aside from two discrete exceptions, all testimonial statements (those made with the expectation that they will serve to prosecute the accused) be subject to cross-examination. This new interpretation of the Sixth Amendment confrontation clause has profoundly affected domestic violence cases, making it much harder to prosecute them successfully.

Although Justice Scalia’s approach to confrontation is new, it is strikingly similar to the analysis in Regina v. Bedingfield, a notorious English murder case, which excluded from the evidence an alleged statement by the …

Propensity Or Stereotype?: A Bad Evidence Experiment In Indian Country, Aviva Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In a significant break with traditional evidence rules and policies, the Federal Rules of Evidence concerning rape and child abuse, Rules 413 and 414, permit the government to admit the accused’s prior sexual misconduct as evidence of character and propensity. Although these rules have been roundly criticized, insufficient attention has been paid to the fact that in allowing propensity evidence for federal sex offenses (as opposed to offenses under state law), these rules disproportionately affect one distinct civilian population: Indians.

The de facto concentration of Rules 413-414 cases in Indian Country raises troubling questions regarding what it means to have …

Honoring Margaret Berger With A Sensible Idea: Insisting That Judges Employ A Balancing Test Before Admitting The Accused's Convictions Under Federal Rule Of Evidence 609(A)(2), Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Special Issues Raised By Rape Trials, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Rape cases reveal core conflicts in the space where evidence, law, and ethics intersect. Such conflicts include the tension between victim protection and the rights of the accused, the challenges attorneys face trying to negotiate the demands of sensitive and emotionally difficult cases, and the role of the law in counteracting stereotypes and bias.

In this essay, I will begin by presenting the cultural milieu surrounding rape allegations, briefly reviewing attitudes towards perpetrators and victims. Next, I will attempt to capture the legal zeitgeist concerning rape, focusing on two recent phenomena: the reversal of false rape convictions based on DNA …

Deviance, Due Process, And The False Promise Of Federal Rule Of Evidence 403, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In a significant break with traditional evidence rules and policies, Federal Rules of Evidence 413 and 414 (concerning rape and child abuse, respectively) allow jurors to use the accused's prior sexual misconduct as evidence of character and propensity. Courts have rejected due process challenges to the new rules, holding that Federal Rule of Evidence 403 serves as a check on any fairness concerns. However, courts' application of Rule 403 in cases involving these sexual propensity rules is troubling. Relying on the legislative history of the new rules and announcing a presumption of admissibility, courts have forsaken the traditional operation of …

Revenge Or Mercy? Some Thoughts About Survivor Opinion Evidence In Death Penalty Cases, Joseph L. Hoffmann

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Evidence, J. Alexander Tanford

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Professor J. Alexander Tanford offers a unique perspective on the ethics of evidence, illustrated by examples of his own personal experiences as well as excerpts from film and literature. This Article is a must read for any litigator as it addresses the issue of where the line is to be drawn regarding evidence in the courtroom.

Mapp Goes Abroad, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Apology Excepted: Incorporating A Feminist Analysis Into Evidence Policy Where You Would Least Expect It, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

No Bad Men!: A Feminist Analysis Of Character Evidence In Rape Trials, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The In/Into Controversy: Lubet Misses The Point, J. Alexander Tanford

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Evidence In A Different Voice: Some Thoughts On Professor Jonakait's Critique Of A Feminist Approach, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

"My God!": A Feminist Critique Of The Excited Utterance Exception To The Hearsay Rule, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Thinking About Elephants: Admonitions, Empirical Research And Legal Policy, J. Alexander Tanford

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Federal Rules Of Evidence After Sixteen Years -- The Effect Of "Plain Meaning" Jurisprudence, The Need For An Advisory Committee On The Rules Of Evidence, And Suggestions For Selective Revision Of The Rules, Aviva A. Orenstein, Edward R. Becker

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Developments In The Law Of Evidence, Sophia Goodman, Henry C. Karlson, Kathleen M. Mulligan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The purpose of this Article is to alert Indiana practitioners to significant 1991 developments in the law of evidence. The Article first discusses Indiana developments. It then briefly highlights Seventh Circuit and United States Supreme Court decisions of note.

Novel Scientific Evidence Of Intoxication: Acoustic Analysis Of Voice Recordings From The Exxon Valdez, J. Alexander Tanford, David B. Pisoni, Keith Johnson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Part of this article reports original research conducted under the direction of the second and third authors. The initial re search was supported by a contract to Indiana University from General Motors Research Laboratories. The specific analyses of voice recordings of Captain Joseph Hazelwood were conducted by them at the re quest of the National Transportation Safety Board, and are based on tapes and data supplied by the NTSB. The second author may be called as a witness in some of the lawsuits pending against the Exxon Corporation. The opinions expressed in this article concerning whether this evidence meets the …

Don't Be Cowed By Scientific Evidence: A Pretrial Primer For Prosecutors And Defense Attorneys, F. Thomas Schornhorst

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

An Introduction To Trial Law, J. Alexander Tanford

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Evidence: Survey Of Recent Developments In Indiana Law, J. Alexander Tanford

Articles by Maurer Faculty

With rare exceptions, Indiana evidence law progresses slowly and holds closely to the traditional concepts of the common law. This Survey Article collects the several important cases decided during the past year that continue this development of Indiana's common law of evidence. A general word of caution is in order concerning the Indiana appellate courts' evidence cases. Most evidence issues arise in criminal cases, in which convicted defendants allege error in the admission of evidence against them or in the exclusion of evidence offered in their defense. A ruling in favor of the defendant could result in the reversal of …

The Fifth Amendment Privilege And Documents--Cutting Fisher's Tangled Line, Robert Heidt

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Business Papers Rule: Personal Privacy And White Collar Crime, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.