» Entries tagged with "dismissed"
Scottsdale’s DUI Problems
Over a year ago, I complained about courts making the defense prove that the state’s deeply flawed scientific evidence, which you can show for a fact was not just flawed but verifiably false in similar situations, was in fact flawed in your client’s case before you are allowed to tell the jury about issues that came up in other situations. The problem is finally coming to the surface. Imagine a situation where a particular gas chromatograph mixes up names and reference numbers of vials of blood being tested for blood alcohol content in DUI cases. It also stops running completely during tests and deletes baseline information. The state’s “expert” acknowledges those and numerous other problems, and he admits he has no idea why the problems happened. On … Read entire article »
Filed under: DUI
Formalities, Theirs and Ours
The law is filled with all kinds of silly formalities. They place the prosecutor’s table on the side closer to the jury box. You’re not supposed to touch the judge’s podium. Some courts require that the lawyers wear a suit or sports coat. A jury is supposed to be sworn. That last one probably seems really important to you, but it isn’t. From a post earlier today from Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice, I learned about a Tenth Circuit opinion yesterday affirming a conviction in a case where the jury reached its verdict despite having never been sworn. Oops! In the case, the defense attorney knew the judge forgot to swear them in, but he waited until after the verdict to bring it up. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: DUI, Government Rants
Getting Away With Nothing
Local news reported yesterday about a scientist who successfully appealed his failure-to-stop ticket by explaining how it may have appeared to an officer that he didn’t stop when he actually did. The title of the article was “California scientist uses physics to dodge ticket,” and it explained that “[a] University of California San Diego scientist was able to use his math and physics knowledge to argue his way out of a $400 traffic ticket.” The emphasis is mine. Here is the scientist’s paper, which is both clear and convincing. The guy is obviously well-educated and articulate, and based on his analysis, it’s tough to disagree with his conclusion that the officer’s perception of reality did not properly reflect reality. After reading the paper and assuming the officer … Read entire article »
Filed under: News
Adventures in Expert-Land
I used an expert voice analyst in one of my cases last year. I’ve been thinking about writing about the experience for a while, as it left me with grave doubts about the supposed science of voice elimination. For some reason, I started thinking about it again over the holidays and finally decided to write something. It seemed like a good way to kick off the new year and get back to blawging. The case involved an extensive, multi-jurisdictional wiretapping investigation. My client was accused of conspiring to purchase drugs and using a wire communication to facilitate a felony drug crime. He claimed it wasn’t him on the phone. We wanted to use an expert to eliminate my client as a potential match for the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Experts
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