Evidence Commons^™

Admission Of An Unavailable Witness’ Grand Jury Testimony: Can It Be Justified?, Judd Burstein

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Confidential Communication Element Of The Attorney-Client Privilege, Gerald Sobel

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of The Missing Witness: Toward An Educator-Facilitator Role For Labor Arbitrators, Lewis Kurlantzick

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Law Survey: Evidence, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Kentucky courts faced a number of significant issues in evidence law during the Survey period. Several decisions dealt with character evidence and problems arising from the admission of evidence of prior criminal acts of the accused, either as substantive evidence or for impeachment. This Survey will highlight these cases and to a lesser degree discuss cases on hearsay admissions, opinion, the Kentucky Dead Man Statute and privilege, which also were decided during the Survey period.

Statistics In The Potential Problems In The Presentation Of Statistical Evidence

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Availability Of The Attorney-Client And Work-Product Privileges In Shareholder Litigation, Donald B. Lewis

Cleveland State Law Review

In Garner v. Wolfinbarger, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit broke important ground in the law of the attorney-client privilege. The court held that in securities litigation in which the officers and directors of a corporation are charged with having acted inimically to shareholder interests, a plaintiff is entitled to show "good cause" why the privilege should not be invoked by the corporation to preclude discovery of relevant evidence. This decision has been applauded and followed by most federal courts. At the same time, the efficacy of such principles has been substantially undercut by unwarranted glosses …

Chain Of Custody And Identification Of Real Evidence, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Corporate And Institutional Accident Investigations As Work Product Pursuant To The Rules Of The Supreme Court Of Virginia, William Todd Benson

University of Richmond Law Review

If the magnitude of the mishap so warrants, many businesses immediately call their insurance adjuster or other accident investigator. In some of the larger businesses, accident investigation and insurance have become in-house operations. This quick reflex toward early fact investigation is prompted, in part, by a healthy respect for the potentiality of claims arising out of the day to day conduct of business affairs. When a suit against such company ultimately is ified and discovery sought, an issue often arises concerning whether early institutional investigations are "work product" for purposes of the federal or Virginia rules of civil procedure. This …

The Hearsay Exception For Public Records In Federal Criminal Trials, Vincent C. Alexander

Faculty Publications

The hearsay exception for "public records" was recognized at common law and has been further developed in most jurisdictions by statute. The reliability of public records is said to derive from the presumption of regularity and accuracy that attends the recording of events by public officials. As with the hearsay exception for recordsmade in the regular course of a private business, the reliability of many public records is enhanced by the routine and repetitive circumstancesunder which such records are made. An additional justificationfor the admission of public records is public convenience: If government employees are continually required to testify in …

When Blood Is Their Argument: Probabilities In Criminal Cases, Genetic Markers, And, Once Again, Bayes' Theorem, Randolph N. Jonakait

Articles & Chapters

Revolutionary advances in blood typing soon will cause a dramatic increase in the presentation of statistical evidence in criminal trials. Courts have admitted statistics into criminal trials before, and the proper use of this type of evidence has been debated previously. Until now, however, such mathematical evidence has been rare. Recently, however, a number of courts have admitted probability evidence derived from new and complex blood tests. Such evidence may soon be as commonplace as fingerprint testimony. The courts that have admitted this evidence, however, have done so without learning from past discussions about the proper role of statistical evidence. …

The Preclusiveness Of A Party's Testimony: Sixty Years Of Massie V. Firmstone In Virginia, Ann L. Hardy

University of Richmond Law Review

The rule that a party may rise no higher than his own testimony was first articulated in Virginia in Massie v. Firmstone. It has been criticized, misunderstood, and misapplied, but since its inception in 1922, it has grown into an important rule of evidence and procedure. The practitioner must consider the implications of the rule from the moment he begins to gather evidence that he expects to present in the form of live testimony.

The Silent Revolution, Faust Rossi

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Procurement And Presentation Of Evidence In Courts-Martial: Compulsory Process And Confrontation, Fredric I. Lederer, Francis A. Gilligan

Faculty Publications

Although pretrial litigation often seems to render trial on the merits something of an anti-climax, adversarial adjudication is of course the focus of the criminal justice system, military or civilian. Once trial on the merits has begun, trial and defense counsel naturally utilize the rules of evidence in the fashion most likely to make the most of the evidence available to them. Yet, as all lawyers are aware, the period since the enactment of the Uniform Code of Military Justice has brought sweeping changes not only in military criminal law, but also in the "constitutionalization" of the law of evidence. …

Prior Restraint Of Expression Through The Private Search Doctrine, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Burdens Of Proof: Degrees Of Belief, Quanta Of Evidence, Or Constitutional Guarantees?, C.M.A. Mccauliff

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article analyzes the whole range of burdens of proof as well as their constitutional implications. Part H of the Article discusses the traditional burdens of proof and the use of probability theory in legal fact finding. Part HI of the Article studies the decision making processes of law enforcement officers, the judges that review their decisions, and the decision making processes in appellate and administrative review. Part IV of the Article returns to the trial process and analyzes burdens of proof, not as degrees of belief, but as reflections of constitutional due process that mandate a required degree of …

The Exclusionary Rule: An Examination Of The Case Law And The Present Posture Of The Florida Supreme Court, Michael Shaw Tammaro

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Constraints On The Admissibility Of Grand Jury Testimony: The Unavailable Witness, Confrontation, And Due Process, Barbara L. Strack

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Defendants, however, have raised serious constitutional objections to the introduction of grand jury testimony when the witness is unavailable to testify at trial. These claims have focused on the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment and the due process clauses of the fifth and fourteenth amendments. Defendants have contended that the introduction of testimony from a grand jury proceeding which cannot be subjected to cross-examination fatally compromises the defendant's right to a fair trial. Lower courts are split over admitting grand jury testimony in these circumstances, and the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the issue. As a result, …

Developments, Roger C. Cramton, Barbara Marshment

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Interview Notes Of Government Agents Under The Jencks Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Most courts that have considered the issue have concluded that the Jencks Act does not require the government to retain and produce rough interview notes. This Note examines the language and purpose of the Act to determine whether interview notes should be considered Jencks Act statements. Part I examines the policy underlying the Jencks Act and argues that the majority position sanctioning pre-trial destruction of interview notes conflicts with these statutory purposes. Part II discusses the statutory language and argues that the status of the witness as a government agent or a private individual determines the applicable section of the …

Smith V. Fortune Insurance Co., 404 So. 2d 821 (Fla. 1st Dist. Ct. App. 1981), Sarah E. Nall

Florida State University Law Review

Evidence-FLORIDA COURT USES BROAD ADVERSE PARTY WITNESS DEFINITION FOR BOTH IMPEACHMENT AND ADMISSIONS PURPOSES

Using Convictions To Impeach Under The Florida Evidence Code, Charles W. Ehrhardt

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hypnotically Induced Testimony: Credibility Versus Admissibility, Octavis White

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Expert As Educator: A Proposed Approach To The Use Of Battered Woman Syndrome Expert Testimony, Meredith B. Cross

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Recent Development proposes that courts should permit the use of battered woman syndrome expert testimony, but restrict its use to informing juries of the peculiar mental and emotional state of battered women. This role of the expert as educator would serve to dispel a jury's misconceptions about battered women and, at the same time, draw the focus of the testimony away from the implication which troubled the Buhrle court--that the battered woman syndrome represents a new defense to murder.The Advisory Committee explains in a note that rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence suggests the use of expert …

The Acquisition Of Evidence For Criminal Prosecution: Some Constitutional Premises And Practices In Transition, H. Richard Uviller

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article isolates only two of the many aspects of the Court's labors affecting the acquisition of evidence for criminal prosecution. The first concerns the allocation of primacy among the values that the exclusionary response to the illegal acquisition of evidence serves: a theoretical choice that may carry some notable practical consequences. The second requires are examination of the role of the trial court in supervising the preaccusatory search for evidence in a way that suggests the possible obsolescence of the Supreme Court's ruling credo in the Stewart era.

Federal Rule Of Evidence 803(3) And The Criminal Defendant: The Limits Of The Hillmon Doctrine, Thomas A. Wiseman, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note has examined the use of the common-law Hillmon doctrine and rule 803(3) in a limited context. Several approaches are available to a court that considers whether to admit a Hillmon statement. A court in a jurisdiction that still applies the common-law hearsay rule may adhere to the status quo. Ample authority exists to permit this approach. Nevertheless, because admission of a Hillmon statement risks certain inherent dangers, a common-law court should avoid a perfunctory application of the exception. Instead, the court must examine carefully each Hillmon statement to ensure that it does not prejudice the defendant's right to …

Review Article Of Handbook Of Federal Evidence, Edward L. Kimball

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Numbers Game: Statistical Inference In Discrimination Cases, David H. Kaye

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Statistical Proof of Discrimination by David Baldus and James Cole

The Use/Nonuse/Misuse Of Applied Social Research In The Courts, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Use/Nonuse/Misuse of Applied Social Research in the Courts edited by Michael J. Saks and Charles H. Baron

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

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Administrative Law - Evidence - Hearsay - Residuum Rule, George P. Faines

Duquesne Law Review

An equally divided Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has held that uncorroborated hearsay evidence alone can support a factual finding in an administrative hearing if the proponent establishes some foundation for the hearsay's reliability or reliability is apparent on its face.

Unemployment Compensation Board of Review v. Ceja, 493 Pa. 584, 427 A.2d 631 (1981).