Documentation needed from verifier for case file...

[GrayMatter]

As a reason to consider documenting the basis of your conclusion as a verifier (not just initials), I would like to point out that several US Supreme Court cases have discussed surrogate testimony (i.e. when the original scientist is unavailable to testify in court and the lab sends another scientist). It is pretty clear that most surrogate testimony should be excluded unless the the person testifying actually performed examinations in the case. Specifically, in Bullcoming v. New Mexico one of the Justice's mentions a secondary scientist drawing their own conclusion from the data as being acceptable to meet the requirements the threshold level of acceptability. For those agencies not verifying exclusions or inconclusive decisions those conclusions may never make it into court if the original scientist isn't available to testify to them (eg. job change, parental leave, retirement, death etc.).