Articles Posted in Expert Witness Testimony

It is advisable to familiarize yourself with the views and opinions that your expert witness has expressed in previous cases for two reasons. 1) Earlier opinions may serve to strengthen your case and 2) opposing counsel may ask the expert about these opinions. For example, the medical expert witness may have relevant experiments, exhibits, case studies, etc. from earlier cases that may affect their testimony. Questions you will ask on direct examination should be rehearsed with the expert and you may want an associate to cross-examine them. When dealing with difficult subject matter, have the expert review how he will explain technical concepts to the jury.

When your expert witness’s work is very detailed and not amenable to oral argument, a report may be useful. For example, the multimedia expert witness may be asked to opine on text, audio, still images, animation, video, and/or electronic media devices. Since multimedia involves the convergence of text, pictures, video, and sound into a single form, conveying content and information to a jury about multiple forms may not lend itself to oral argument. A possible solution is to convert the expert’s testimony into a report that may be presented in an electronic format to be used as a presentation in court.

Independent medical examinations expert witness Dr. Charles Wetli testified Friday that Renee Javier Perez could not have been fatally injured in the time frame that ex-cop George Bubaris is accused of killing him. LoHud.com reports:

‘He did not sustain this injury after 11 o’clock p.m.,’ said Dr. Charles Wetli, who was the chief medical examiner for Suffolk County for more than 11 years. Wetli testified at the state Supreme Court Homicide trial of Bubaris, a former Mount Kisco police officer charged in Perez’s death.

Wetli is th last defense witness in Bubaris’ manslaughter trial and is the second medical expert who refuted findings from the Westchester County Medical Examiner as well as a new York City medical examiner, both of whom previously testified that Perez was mortally wounded after 11 p.m. the night of April 28, 2007.

Tucson copper producer Asarco LLC is suing its former parent company Americas Mining Corp over the value of the company’s investment in Peruvian mining operations. Asarco alleges fraudulent transfer of Asarco’s majority share in two Peruvian copper mines and related facilities. Asarco contends that the loss of that revenue led to its 2005 bankruptcy. Americas Mining Corp mining expert witnesses testified about the value of the Peruvian mines question. AMC asserts that Asarco’s bankruptcy occurred more than two years after the transfer.

German Larrea, one of Mexico’s richest men and chief executive and chairman of Grupo Mexico, parent company of AMC., testified Tuesday that he acted in the best interest of Asarco when he shifted its most valuable asset to one of his other subsidiaries.

A gangs defense expert says that five young men charged with murder and gang allegations in the beating death of a surfer outside his La Jolla home do not fit the legal definition of being members of a criminal street gang. San Diego News reports:

Alfonso Valdez, a University of California, Irvine sociology professor who teaches classes on gang cultures, testified in the preliminary hearing for Seth Cravens, Orlando Osuna, Matthew Yanke, Eric House and Hank Hendricks, who are accused in the death a year ago of 24-year-old Emery Kauanui. “It is not a gang,” the expert witness testified. “None of the defendants in this case are gang members as defined under California law.” Valdez said none of the defendants admitted gang membership and did not act like gang members.

Eyewitness News reporter Nina Pineda reports on the NYPD’s aggressive policing tactics:

Excessive police force, racial profiling and the independence of local prosecutors are the three issues the House Judiciary Committee is examining to determine how to proceed on a federal level with the legacy of Sean Bell. “This committee, this delegation, will insist that the Justice Department pursue a comprehensive, fair and expeditious investigation of this case,” New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler said.

The committee is going to review the recommendations from police procedures expert witnesses on federal oversight of police patterns and practices, not just in New York City, but in any city where public confidence in law enforcement is questioned.

The risk of injury or death from the use of Tasers is low, an expert witness has testified at a public inquiry ordered after the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. J. Patrick Reilly, an electrical engineer expert witness, said yesterday the weapon is safe compared with a handgun. The Star.com reports:

“Safety is relative. You can hurt people with batons and even pepper spray,” said Reilly, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University. “I wouldn’t want to be Tasered myself but I recognize among the arsenal of things, this may be a useful tool.”

Reilly has been offered funding money from stun-gun manufacturers and Taser International, the Arizona-based company that produces the weapon, but has declined financial grants from such companies.

Al Valdez, Professor at the University of California-Irvine and a retired law-enforcement officer, testified Friday as a gangs expert witness that the murder of Daniel Francis was a gang-related act and not a crime stemming from a road-rage incident. The expert witness described the murder of Daniel Francis as the result of a gang initiation. Valdez says that 50 percent of the people killed in gang violence are innocent bystanders, according to an FBI study and his own professional experiences of investigating gang crimes.

For more see: NWAnews.com

Anesthesiology expert witness Dr. Mark Dershwitz’s testified that Ohio’s execution procedure is humane and includes enough anesthetic to knock out an average inmate for two hours. wcpo.com writes:

The doctors testified in a legal challenge brought by two men who could receive death sentences if convicted of separate murders in Lorain County. The defendants are challenging the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection process, saying it doesn’t provide the quick and painless death required by Ohio law.

Lethal injections are on hold nationally while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge in a case from Kentucky, which is among the roughly three dozen states that administer three drugs in succession to sedate, paralyze and kill prisoners.

Anthony Pellicano, former Hollywood private eye, called his one and only witness, an FBI computer expert witness in his defense against wiretapping and racketeering charges. HollywoodReporter.com also reports:

On the witness stand, Donald Schmidt testified that he was told to look for evidence of audio recordings on Mac computers confiscated by federal agents in a search of Pellicano’s Sunset Boulevard office in November 2002.

“I recall hearing audio files,” Schmidt said. “Did you or anybody determine these files were wiretaps?” Pellicano asked. It’s not my job,” Schmidt responded. “I was told to find audio files.”