Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Evidence

Pepperdine Law Review

Witness

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Bias In Blue: Instructing Jurors To Consider The Testimony Of Police Officer Witnesses With Caution, Vida B. Johnson Apr 2017

Bias In Blue: Instructing Jurors To Consider The Testimony Of Police Officer Witnesses With Caution, Vida B. Johnson

Pepperdine Law Review

Jurors in criminal trials are instructed by the judge that they are to treat the testimony of a police officer just like the testimony of any other witness. Fact-finders are told that they should not give police officer testimony greater or lesser weight than any other witness they will hear from at trial. Jurors are to accept that police are no more believable or less believable than anyone else. Jury instructions regarding police officer testimony stand in contrast to the instructions given to jurors when a witness with a legally recognized interest in the outcome of the case has testified. …


Substance And Method In The Year 2000, Akhil Reed Amar Oct 2012

Substance And Method In The Year 2000, Akhil Reed Amar

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Experience-Based Opinion Testimony: Strengthening The Lay Opinion Rule , Anne Bowen Poulin Sep 2012

Experience-Based Opinion Testimony: Strengthening The Lay Opinion Rule , Anne Bowen Poulin

Pepperdine Law Review

Determining whether experience-based opinion should be evaluated as lay or as expert opinion has proven particularly challenging to the courts. The Federal Rules of Evidence were amended in 2000, adopting specific, more stringent requirements for expert testimony and hardening the line between lay and expert opinion. Expert opinion testimony is admissible only if based on reliable methodology, whereas lay opinion must be rationally derived using everyday reasoning. The decisions applying the rules do not strike the right balance in regard to experience-based opinion. Too often, courts either accept claims of experience-based expertise at face value or admit experience-based opinion as …


The Propriety Of Jury Questioning: A Remedy For Perceived Harmless Error, Laurie Forbes Neff Jul 2012

The Propriety Of Jury Questioning: A Remedy For Perceived Harmless Error, Laurie Forbes Neff

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.