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In Utilizing Experts In An Expert Way, Kelli Hinson and Tesa Hinkley describe the crucial role expert witnesses have at trial and give advice on how best to use them. Here they give useful tips on scheduling academic experts to fit the time table for your case.

Most academic experts have teaching and research duties that can restrict the time they have available for consulting activities. The more senior academics often teach one semester per year. Identifying this period in advance, and working around it by utilizing the summer and other non-teaching periods, will maximize th expert’s availability for your needs.

Excerpted from the ABA Expert Witness Alert, Summer/Fall 2007

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In Utilizing Experts In An Expert Way, Kelli Hinson and Tesa Hinkley describe the crucial role expert witnesses have at trial and give advice on how best to use them.

Plan ahead when considering experts. Some cases may benefit from muliple testifying experts. Start by considering anticipated phases of the case (class certification, liability, damages) when determining the scope of your expert needs. Breadth of consulting support can help you avoid retraining a new support team when new experts are added. For larger litigation, identifying an expert early will lessen the risk of losing the expert’s services to another party in the litigation.

Excerpted from the ABA Expert Witness Alert, Summer/Fall 2007

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Media expert witness Dr. Mary Lynn Young will be heard on Oct. 29 and 30 at the Cornwall Ontario Public Inquiry. Young is the acting director and an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. The expert witness will speak on the impact media coverage may have had on the community and whether that coverage influenced institutional response to allegations of child sexual abuse. The Inquiry’s task is to research and report on the institutional response of the justice system and other public institutions in relation to allegations of historical abuse of young people in the Cornwall area. CNW Group also writes:

Having nearly completed hearing testimony from witnesses who are victims or alleged victims of child sexual abuse, the Inquiry is now hearing community context evidence. Much of this form of evidence is provided by individuals who were not themselves victims of childhood sexual abuse, but who became involved in issues related to allegations of abuse. Some of the witnesses scheduled to appear have held to the view that there was disregard for – or suppression of – information regarding abuse of children and youth.

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A polygraph test was admitted into evidence at a criminal trial in Ohio last week for the first time in more than thirty years. As a result, Sahil Sharma was found not guilty of sexual battery. The main witness for the defense was Dr. Louis Rovner of Los Angeles, California, a renowned scientist and polygraph expert witness. After a polygraph test that lasted more than 2 ½ hours, Rovner concluded that Mr. Sharma was telling the truth when he said that the woman was wide awake and that the sexual encounter was consensual.

The case of Ohio vs Sahil Sharma had been hotly contested for more than a year. Rovner returned to Ohio for the trial and testified in open court, examined first by the defense, and cross-examined aggressively by the prosecutor. During the reading of the verdict, Dr. Rovner’s expert witness testimony was cited as one of the primary pieces of evidence that led to the finding of not guilty.

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A Kansas City jury this week convicted Lisa Montgomery of killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett to kidnap Stinnett’s unborn daughter. The defense expert witnesses had testified that Montgomery suffered pseudocyesis, a delusional belief that she was pregnant, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The prosecution’s forensic psychiatriy expert witness Park Dietz dismissed the pseudocyesis claim but agreed Montgomery suffered from the stress disorder. He testified that it did not rise to the level of severe mental disorder which would have been key in supportilng an insanity defense in federal court. The Kansas City Star also reports that the federal jury found Montgomery, 39, guilty of one count of kidnapping resulting in death.

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Professor Brad Cornell of the California Institute of Technology testified Wednesday for the defense in the Sydney, Australia, class action suit against gaming giant Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. The finance expert witness said only part of the 57 per cent fall in Aristocrat Leisure’s share price in February 2003 could be attributed to previously undisclosed bad news. The Sydney Morning Herald also reports:

Brad Cornell, from the California Institute of Technology, said sellers were also affected by the belated discovery that Aristocrat’s then management was “dishonest and incompetent”. When new executives were installed, the share price partly recovered.

The shareholders’ expert witness, the New York econometrician Fred Dunbar, argued that almost all the share price fall could be attributed to the effect on earnings of the new information. He said the share price would have fallen by the same 57 per cent, albeit in stages, if Aristocrat had announced lower – correct – profits in February and August 2002 and if it had righted an inflated profit forecast in December 2002.

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Texas lawmakers heard complaints from medical expert witnesses about the Texas Medical Board on Tuesday. During the proceedings, legislators questioned the board about former member Dr. Keith Miller, who resigned in August after a law was passed banning board members from acting as expert witnesses in malpractice cases. The Statesman reports:

The House Appropriations regulatory subcommittee, led by state Rep. Fred Brown, R-Bryan, has heard repeated charges that the board expends time and money chasing violations that have little to do with patient care, Brown said…. Dr. Roland Chalifoux, a former neurosurgeon in the Fort Worth area, said the board unfairly took his license after a patient died, forcing him to leave the state. If he is a danger to patients, he asked lawmakers, why is he allowed to teach and practice in Wheeling, W.Va.?

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William “Billy” Nichols Jr. is charged with double counts of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide in the deaths of two nurses, Nancy and Holly Cummings, on Nov. 26, 2004. Nichols had a blood alcohol level of 0.13 to 0.15 when he lost control of his Ford F-250 truck. The legal limit is .08. The defense contends that Nichols has a medical condition that results in a high blood alcohol level in his stomach hours after drinking but toxicology expert witness for the prosecution, Dr. Mark Montgomery, testified Thursday saying “You can’t fool mother nature or the brain when it comes to alcohol. Ocola.com goes on to report:

The defense is not contesting the blood results but is alleging a medical condition caused alcohol to sit in Nichols’ stomach and not metabolize, which would cause the blood alcohol level in Nichols’ stomach to rise after the crash. (Expert witness) Montgomery disputed the claim. “I’ve never seen any piece of data that suggests … fluid sitting in the stomach and magically starts getting absorbed,” Montgomery said.

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DNA testing puts Orange Taylor III at the scene of the sexual assault and murder of Eastern Michigan University student Laura Dickinson. DNA expert witness Heather Vitta testified that Taylor’s DNA is a perfect match to semen stains found in her college dorm room. Expert witness Vitta, supervisor of the biology and DNA unit at the Michigan State Police Northville lab, testified in Washtenaw County Court. The Detroit Free Press also reports:

Taylor’s DNA perfectly matches samples taken at the scene, and the odds of finding another match would be one in quadrillions or even quintillions, Heather Vitta, supervisor of the biology and DNA unit at the Michigan State Police Northville lab, testified in Washtenaw County Court.

With these kinds of numbers, she said: “I certainly would expect to see it only once in the entire population of the world.” Dickinson was killed early Dec. 13, prosecutors say, by then 20-year-old Taylor. Taylor now is 21 years old. Blaine Longsworth, Washtenaw County assistant prosecutor, called the attack “every woman’s worst nightmare come true.”

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Lisa Montgomery is on trial in federal court in Kansas City for killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett in December 2004 and cutting her baby from her womb. Vilayanur Ramachandran, a brain expert witness researcher and California university professor, testified that Montgomery suffered from a delusion that she was pregnant. People with this condition, known as pseudocyesis, will go as far as manufacturing evidence to cling to their delusion, the expert witness said. The Kansas City Star also writes:

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Whitworth questioned Ramachandran about all the evidence against Montgomery and the inconsistent statements she gave about her alleged pregnancy in the months leading up to Stinnett’s killing. He testified that “fluctuations” in a person’s stories would be consistent with an emotionally disturbed person in a delusional state.”Despite all this evidence you contend that she didn’t know it was wrong?” Whitworth asked. “That is correct,” Ramachandran answered.