Evidence Commons^™

A Case For United States V. Connolly: The Forgotten Posterchild Of Protecting Corporate Employees’ Rights During Internal Investigations And Why It Should Be The Standard, Not The Exception, William Marment

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In May 2019, United States v. Connolly provided a benchmark for government involvement in corporate internal investigations. The decision curtailed the close, and oftentimes coercive nature of the relationship between the prosecutor and corporate counsel conducting internal investigations on a corporation’s behalf. It drew a line between the government improperly outsourcing its investigation to the target corporation and when an employee’s statements are not fairly attributable to government prosecutors, and thus not compelled. The Connolly Court ruled that statements from counsel-led employee interviews, conducted under the threat of termination, were fairly attributable to the government and thus improperly compelled. Those …

Frye Is So Last Century: It’S Time For Washington To Get With The Times, Darian Mullen

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

This paper argues that Washington State should finally abandon the

Frye test for expert witnesses and adopt the Daubert test used by federal

courts and most states. It begins with a discussion of the background of

expert witnesses in the U.S. court system and its evolution through Frye.

Then, it looks at the increase in drunk driving in Washington State as a

case study for how the public depends on quality science to protect

individuals and punish wrongdoers. Through the case study, it is

apparent that Frye is an unworkable standard that should be superseded

by Daubert.

404 Error - Relevance Not Found: Georgia’S Shift To Stricter Scrutiny Of 404(B) Evidence In Wilson V. State, Savannah Walker

Mercer Law Review

For decades, Georgia courts have treated Georgia Rule of Evidence 404(b) (“Rule 404(b)”) as an “evidentiary rule of inclusion,” an approach centered on the idea that if a prior act appeared relevant, it belonged in front of the jury. This practice was grounded in the belief that relevant prior criminal acts, like other forms of evidence, “should not lightly be excluded when central to the prosecution’s case.” In Wilson v. State, the Supreme Court of Georgia narrowed the standard for the admissibility of other-acts evidence, signaling a continuing judicial shift toward stricter evidentiary control that aligns more closely with the …

Cardozo Law Announces Three New Faculty Appointments, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Cardozo School of Law announced the appointments of three new faculty members: Assistant Professor of Law Mridula Raman, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Civil Rights Clinic Stefen R. Short, and Harold A. Stevens Visiting Assistant Professor of Law Fregine Sheehy. Their expertise spans criminal law, civil rights, disability justice, critical race theory, evidence, and human rights law.

Metrics Not Thresholds: How To Regulate Ai And Other Expert Methods For Use In Criminal Investigations And Proceedings, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

Should regulators set performance thresholds for AI tools used in the criminal legal system? This Article draws on U.S. evidence law for guidance. Its answer is ... don’t. Instead of gatekeeping with ex ante performance thresholds, regulators should require or incentivize metrics of reliability that can be clearly communicated to end-user decisionmakers.

A Meta-Analysis On Joinder Effects: Do They All Have The Same Magnitude?, Amelia M. Tisk

Student Theses

The present meta-analysis examined whether different forms of joinder and procedural consolidation produce varying levels of prejudice in adjudicative decision-making. Although joinder procedures improve judicial efficiency, psychological research has suggested that combining charges, defendants, or plaintiffs within a single proceeding may increase conviction likelihood, liability judgments, and broader perceptions of wrongdoing. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted across 22 independent study effects examining charge joinder, defendant consolidation, plaintiff consolidation, multiple-complainant procedures, and related aggregation paradigms. Effect sizes were converted to Pearson’s r whenever possible. Overall, procedural aggregation produced a moderate effect on adjudicative outcomes, r = .27, 95% CI [.22, .32]. …

Richt V. State Of Nevada, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 32 (April 30, 2026), Vanessa Arias

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

A defendant must establish a foundation for a self-defense claim before being allowed to bring in evidence of the victim's character. If the defendant wishes to admit evidence to support a self-defense claim it must be relevant. Lay witnesses are allowed to testify regarding their own perception.

You Can Be Innocent—Or You Can Be Free: Prosecutorial Power And Dark Pleas In Innocence Litigation, Tori Simkovic, Craig Trocino

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

This Article examines the phenomenon Justice Michael P. Donnelly has termed the “dark plea.” A dark plea is a post-conviction guilty plea extracted from defendants who maintain their innocence but accept freedom over exoneration. Through the lens of State of Florida v. Lawrence K. Johnson, this Article exposes how dark pleas operate at the precise moment when newly discovered evidence threatens to unravel a conviction and expose actual innocence in a nearly two decades old wrongful conviction. Johnson’s case illustrates the coercive dynamics of this type postconviction “bargaining.” After eighteen years of incarceration, compelling DNA recantation evidence, and an appellate …

Unsettling Settled Science: The Perils Of And Rationale Behind Blind Faith In Forensic Evidence, Jaclyn Marra

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

Science—a seemingly compelling and infallible adjudicative element—plays a pivotal role in criminal trials, serving as a cornerstone for evidence interpretation and decision-making. However, the perceived infallibility of scientific evidence often masks its inherent limitations and vulnerabilities. Forensic methods, widely regarded as objective and precise, can suffer from a plethora of inconspicuous constraints—including flawed methodologies, human error, and biases—which undermine their reliability. The American public and legal system frequently place undue trust in forensic evidence and experts, influenced by portrayals of their certainty in media and popular culture. This phenomenon has been referred to as the “Reverse CSI Effect.” This note …

Indigenous Māori Defend Digital Sovereignty Over Big Tech’S Free Trade Rules, Jane Kelsey

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

In 2016, Indigenous Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand challenged the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (‘TPPA’) for breaching the colonial government (Crown) obligations to them under the 1840 Tiriti o Waitangi. This was lodged before a Tribunal particularly established to inquire into such breaches. In 2021, the Tribunal upheld that claim, finding that the TPPA e-commerce provisions failed to protect Māori identity and Indigenous knowledge. Since then, the Crown and Māori have sought means to reconcile these competing paradigms within the unequal power relations of a colonial government and Indigenous Peoples – denied the sovereignty affirmed to them in 1840. This case …

The Role Of Ai In Judicial Translation: Ensuring Access To Justice In Vernacular Languages, With Special Reference To Marathi, Bhushan Raut

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper examines the role of artificial intelligence in judicial translation to enhance access to justice in India’s multilingual legal system, with a specific focus on Marathi. It situates judicial translation within the constitutional framework and Rule of Law theory, arguing that linguistic accessibility is essential to legal agency and fairness. Through doctrinal, empirical, and comparative analysis, the paper evaluates initiatives such as SUVAS, highlights gaps in vernacular availability of landmark judgements, and identifies challenges relating to accuracy, accountability, and legal semantics. It proposes a hybrid AI–human model and policy reforms to ensure reliable, scalable, and inclusive translation practices in …

The Illusory Normativity Of Rights-Based Ai Regulation, Yiyang Mei, Matthew Sag

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Whether and how to regulate AI is now a central question of governance. Across academic, policy, and international legal circles, the European Union is widely treated as the normative leader in this space. Its regulatory framework, anchored in the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services and Markets Acts, and the AI Act, is often portrayed as a principled model grounded in fundamental rights. This Article challenges that assumption. We argue that the rights-based narrative surrounding EU AI regulation mischaracterises the logic of its institutional design. While rights language pervades EU legal instruments, its function is managerial, not foundational. These …

Or Else: Statutes Without Sanctions And The Doctrine Of Meaningful Interpretation, Christian Davis

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Mankind has been fashioning laws for millennia. And while the form and substance of laws vary widely across times and places, all laws are unified by a fundamental reality that transcends the particular legal and political institutions of the day. To put it simply: laws only work if someone is prepared to enforce them.

As arbiters of the American legal system, state and federal judges are aware that—in order for a law to have the conduct-influencing effect it was designed to have—it must be supported by some version of an “or else” clause, a punishment or penalty sufficient to dissuade …

Ai's Double Edged Sword: Fighting Against Synthetic Csam, Shekhinah Adra Green

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The rapid advancements in generative artificial intelligence has introduced new challenges in the production and distribution of synthetic child sexual abuse material (CSAM). AI has the capabilities of creating highly realistic imagery and videos, which  raises serious legal and ethical concerns, increasing the risk of harm, exploitation, and revictimization.

This paper discusses the legal improvements needed in order to lower the change of legal loopholes, how digital forensic analyst use advanced tools to identify and investigate synthetic material, and different methods to start the reduction of synthetic CSAM.

Smith (Sophia) V. State, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 26, 587 P.3d 251 (Apr. 9, 2026), Karin Tidgewell

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

In Smith (Sophia) v. State, the Nevada Supreme Court held that violations of NRS 200.5099(3) should be prosecuted as one count of elder exploitation per victim, regardless of the number of acts that occur against a single victim.

Combatting Ai-Generated Child Sexual Exploitation And Abuse Material: An Analysis Of India’S Techno-Legal Response, Dhruv Garg, Dedipyaman Shukla

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) presents a significant threat to child safety online, enabling the rapid creation and dissemination of child sexual exploitation and abuse material (“CSEAM”) at an unprecedented scale. This paper examines legal, institutional, and technical responses to AI-generated CSEAM in the Indian context, with a particular focus on the role of digital intermediaries, law enforcement coordination through the Sahyog Portal, and judicial interpretation under Indian law. Drawing on this analysis of key stakeholders, the paper argues for the orientation of India’s CSEAM framework towards proactive detection, and better integration between intermediaries and law enforcement. The …

Lyrics On Lockdown: An Analysis Of The Admissibility Of Rap Lyrics Under The Rules Of Evidence And The First Amendment, Lucious M. Moore

Mercer Law Review

“Freddy Mercury did not confess to having ‘just killed a man’ by putting ‘a gun against his head’ and ‘pulling the trigger.’ Bob Marley did not confess to having shot a sheriff. And Johnny Cash did not confess to shooting ‘a man in Reno, just to watch him die.’” However, a troubling trend in state and federal courts across the country is that rap lyrics are not being granted the same protections and latitudes that other forms of artistic expressions are afforded. In a movement that is shocking—yet formulaic—creators of rap music are seeing their lyrics used against them in …

The Psychology Of A Favor: Why Hidden Witness Payments Demand A New Brady Rule, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

Prosecutors and the police regularly pay informants and other witnesses in criminal cases. These payments can be in the form of rewards, relocation expenses, crime victims funds, and even simple cash. Although witness payments are legal, prosecutors are supposed to disclose them under the Brady doctrine because they are favorable evidence that the defense could use to impeach the witness. Yet prosecutors often fail to disclose witness payments because of communication failures with the police, poor training, excessive caseloads, and occasional ethical lapses.

This Article examines dozens of hidden witness payments that prosecutors failed to disclose. In nearly eighty percent …

Childhood, Likelihood, And Probative Value: A Further Call For Greater Probity And Less Childism In Evidence Law, Mae C. Quinn

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ai In Criminal Justice: Against The Trade Secret Privilege, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The criminal justice system is becoming automated. At every stage, from policing to evidence to parole, AI tools and other technologies guide outcomes. Debates over the pros and cons of these technologies have overlooked a crucial issue: ownership. Developers often claim that details about how their tools work are trade secrets and refuse to disclose that information to criminal defendants or their attorneys. The introduction of intellectual property claims into the criminal justice system raises under-theorised tensions between life, liberty, and property interests. This chapter argues that trade secrets should not be privileged in criminal proceedings. A criminal trade secret …