A South Carolina man’s conviction for criminal sexual conduct with a minor has been reversed by the South Carolina Court of Appeals because the court found that the child’s therapist improperly vouched for the alleged victim’s testimony by testifying as both a lay witness and an expert witness. The Alleged Crime In 2015, training specialists […]

Experts who are licensed in a profession sometimes face professional discipline for breaching professional standards. When accusations are unproven, courts are unlikely to admit evidence of the alleged transgression to impeach the expert. When the expert is disciplined, however, whether disciplinary findings may be raised in cross-examination of the expert presents a more difficult question. […]

A Virginia district court judge has approved the use of funds for a defendant to hire a digital forensics expert to examine the cell phone and GPS data that is being used by the prosecutors in connection with his trial for murder.  The Killing  On February 13, 2018, Orange County authorities responded to Wendell’s Place […]

Wright Hardware installed a 500-gallon liquid propane tank at the residence of Charles and Linda Benefiel in rural Clinton County, Indiana. The Benefiels used propane to heat their home. When the Benefiels called Wright Hardware many years later to report that had they no heat, the company sent an employee, William Taylor, to determine the […]

The Florida Supreme Court recently rejected a request for rehearing by the Code and Rules of Evidence Committee of The Florida Bar and Jacksonville attorneys Howard Coker and James Holland to reconsider whether it should adopt the Daubert standard for expert testimony admissibility. Daubert in Florida Florida is one of the states that until very […]

Johannes Lopez was convicted of multiple crimes by a Georgia jury. The crimes included “street gang terrorism” as well as more traditional counts of assault and firearms offenses. Lopez attempted to present expert evidence to counter the testimony of prosecution experts that Lopez committed gang-related crimes. The trial court excluded the testimony of the defense […]

After suffering injuries in a bicycle accident, Michael Sode sued the driver who allegedly caused the collision. He was required to undergo a medical examination at the defendant’s request. The  examination was performed by a doctor at the Orthopedic Center of South Florida. Sode attempted to subpoena the financial records of the Orthopedic Center. The […]

The murder trial of a man who has been charged in the death of a Chesterton bartender will be delayed for three weeks so that DNA testing can be conducted on a strand of hair that was found at the crime scene.  The Murder On April 19, 2017, 23-year-old bartender Nicole Gland was found stabbed […]

During a groundbreaking seven-week trial, the State of Oklahoma offered evidence that Johnson & Johnson fueled the state’s opioid crisis by engaging in a marketing strategy that encouraged addiction to pain medication. The state advanced the novel theory that aggressive marketing of an addictive drug caused a public nuisance. Two other companies, Purdue Pharma and […]

The Queen of Soul passed away almost a year ago, but a drama is ongoing as the courts determine how she intended to dispose of her estate. The Conflicting Wills When Aretha Franklin passed away in August 2018, her family believed that she hadn’t left a will.  However, in May 2019, her family found three […]