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Table of Contents
Volume 4, Issue 12
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Legislative Update:
Senate Passes the National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act
Congress in Action—a Legislative Update
$482 Million approved for labs, will the House and President Clinton go for it?
Recent Cases:
Hearsay for Diagnosis Only
Specialist Testimony Cites Childs Statements in Sexual Crime
Can an psychologist's testimony include the child's interpretations? Courts must decide if the information is tainted or coached to ensure a conviction.
Recent Cases:
Scientific Hearsay Testimony Gets Smudged
Tip About Cosmetics Precluded, Though Influence OK
Can an accident reconstruction expert who relies in part on hearsay to establish a foundation for his opinion on red substance being lipstick, testify regarding the content of that hearsay?
Recent Cases:
Retardation No Illness for Commitment
Sexually Aggressive, with IQ 40, Wickwire Eludes Statute
Is a mentally retarded dangerous person covered under a statute concerning mentally ill dangerous persons? Not in Nebraska.
Recent Cases:
DNA Databases No Hearsay
What Others Prepare Presumptively Reliable
If the DNA expert didn't actually create the statistics which back his testimony, can his opinion be admitted?
Recent Cases:
After Acquittal, Widowed Husband Misfires
Probable Cause Negates Malicious Prosecution Claim in "Murder"
Police found Mrs. Nugent near death lying on her bed. Mr. Nugent told police that he thought his wife had shot herself in the back of the head. After the death police find bullet wound and sheriff cries murder. Did the husband do it?
Recent Cases:
What Defines a Battered Woman?
Court Determines Knife Welding, Abusive Boyfriend Doesn’t Play Nice
The court affirmed Gadlin’s conviction for attacking his live-in girlfriend with a knife based upon, among other things, testimony explaining Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) offered in anticipation of the defense’s attack on the victim's credibility.
Recent Cases:
Seduction Typology OK at Sentencing
Testimony Relevant on Moral Culpability of Sex Offender
A Dallas priest is accused of sex offenses involving a child. Will the FBI expert be allowed to testify about his specific methods of classification, which lead to an appraisal of moral responsibility?
Recent Cases:
Sex with Client Leads to Discipline
Relations Breaches Duties to Client
A leading Washington attorney begins a sexual relationship with a client in her dissolution proceeding. What standards need to be upheld?
Recent Cases:
Bucket Toss Perception off the Mark
Physics Testimony Ploy Thuds After Reckless Heave Kills Officer
The result of a bucket thrown from the top of a building to the street leaves a police office dead. Do physics get this killer off?
Recent Cases:
Bad Medicine, but Malicious Intent?
Testimony by Pathologist Prejudices, Brings Reversal
Potassium chloride is the drug used to administer lethal injection, because of its effects on the patient's heart rhythm. When a doctor administers intravenous potassium to an intensive care patient in need of potassium, is it murder or just bad medicine? Can a testifying expert educate the jury about the doctor's intent?
Recent Cases:
Manic = Ineffective Counsel?
Capital Defense Woes Not Attributable to Illness
After a guilty verdict, the capital defendant appeals, asserting his attorneys diagnosed mentally illness rendered him ineffective.
Recent Cases:
Hi-Tech but Same Outcome for Polygraph
Computer Polygraphs Would Escape Cross, Usurp Jury
After killing an officer during a drug raid, the defendant says he was protecting his home from an intruder and didn't know it was a drug bust. Will the polygraph evidence be admitted? What if a cutting edge computer polygraph is used?
Recent Cases:
Use of Thermal Imaging No Search
Heat Emission Not Intimate Private Activity
Using infrared technology, DEA agents scan a home and discover excess heat, consistent with indoor marijuana crops. Did the 4th amendment get violated when the agents scanned the accused's home?
Science Discoveries:
Reactive and Proactive Aggression
Evidence of a Two-Factor Model
Aggressive behaviors in childhood are associated with several problems such as peer rejection and hyperactivity. Recent research explores the distinction between reactive and proactive aggression, and the social implications of each. An important two-part study from the Montreal school system.
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