Articles Posted in Evidence

Are juvenile convictions subject to discovery and potential use at trial? — Yes. Mil. R. Evid. 609(d): Evidence of juvenile adjudications is generally not admissible under this rule. The military judge, however, may allow evidence of a juvenile adjudication of a witness other than the accused if conviction of the offense would be admissible to…

Dog sniffs of the exterior of a vehicle are not searches under the Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Olivera-Mendez, 484 F.3d 505, 511 (8th Cir. 2007). “Such a dog sniff may be the product of an unconstitutional seizure, however, if the traffic stop is unreasonably prolonged before the dog is employed.” United States v.…

Professor Colin Miller, Chicken Little Or Canary In The Coal Mine?: Supreme Court Finally Issues Opinion In Melendez-Diaz, Finding Certificates Of State Laboratory Analysts To Be “Testimonial,” 25 June 2009. Analysis: Law need not bow to chemistry, SCOTUSBlog.

Here is a link to Professor Friedman’s initial thoughts on this case. First, this is a terrific decision. It is the right result, for the right reasons. It clears up a lot of issues that should have been clear. It should have been unanimous; the principal concern it raises is not anything it says, or…

I particularly like this part: Forensic evidence is not uniquely immune fromthe risk of manipulation. According to a recent study conducted under the auspices of the National Academy ofSciences, “[t]he majority of [laboratories producing foren-sic evidence] are administered by law enforcement agen-cies, such as police departments, where the laboratoryadministrator reports to the head of the…

Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts This is the link to the Supreme Court Decision in M-D. Here’s a link to the arguments before the court. Laboratory reports ARE testimonial. Now, what reports are covered? Here is a “comment” by Crime & Consequences blog. Justice Scalia, writing for a 5-4 majority, authored the Supreme Court’s decision in Melendez-Diaz…

Here is the lead in for an piece on federalevidence.com blog: In medical malpractice case, trial court’s exclusion of defense expert as unqualified was not harmless error; the defense expert’s opinion that the plaintiff’s expert’s conclusion was not supported by the medical literature plaintiff cited did not require the defense expert to have as much…

Earlier I commented on prosecutors introducing inadmissible irrelevant evidence to set the stage or lay the groundwork for an investigation and prosecution (here). Here’s another case, again from the 1st Circuit. This case requires us to assess the propriety of the government’s use of a law enforcement officer as the first witness in a multi-defendant…

First Circuit focuses on relevance tests to assess the admission of out-of-court statements offered for a non-hearsay purpose; ultimately the error was harmless, in United States v. Benitez-Avila, __ F.3d __ (1st Cir. June 9, 2009) (No. 08-1463). Trial counsel often want to call the investigator to lay the groundwork on how the investigation was…

The Best Of Everything: Fourth Circuit Erroneously Finds That Best Evidence Rule Doesn’t Apply In Firearms Appeal Federal Rule of Evidence 1002, the Best Evidence or Original Document Rule, indicates that To prove the content of a writing, recording, or photograph, the original writing, recording, or photograph is required, except as otherwise provided in these…