Legal Process

Chain of Custody
Legislation/Rulings
  • Ted Bundy vs. Arrestee DNA Databasing
    It’s more than a little ironic that the week before the DNA of Ted Bundy, one of America’s most notorious serial killers, is entered into a DNA database, the First Appellate Court in California has ruled its arrestee database to be unconstitutional.
  • Family Feud: The Familial DNA Search Controversy Continues
    Despite some vocal criticisms and concerns regarding the practice of familial DNA searching, it is being increasingly considered. What that means for the forensic community remains to be seen, but for states that have moved forward with familial searching programs, protocols continue to be refined.
  • How To Extrapolate Alcohol With Certainty
    The courts have recently decided that single numerical values for blood and breath test results without a measure of uncertainty are inadmissible as they preclude objective interpretation.

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Expert Witness
  • Applying Melendez: Briscoe and Beyond
    A look at the effects of Briscoe v. Virginia and subsequent case law on the enforcement and application of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.
  • Confronting Science: Melendez-Diaz and the Confrontation Clause
    In an interesting turn of its docket this year, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case with an almost identical issue as the controversial decision from last term’s Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts. However, the Court’s one-sentence opinion sent it back down to the Virginia Supreme Court, instructing its members to make their ruling consistent with last year’s. Melendez-Diaz provides clarity on the use of live testimony over the introduction of testimonial documents.
  • Expert Witness: Effective Courtroom Testimony
    It is important to look, sound, and act the part to be a convincing and effective Expert Witness.

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