Daubert Seminar in Las Vegas
Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:55 am
ABFDE is hosting another Daubert Seminar in Las Vegas this November. Please see the information below and visit their website at ABFDE.org for registration information and forms.
Hope to see some of our forensic folks here!
The Paradigm Shift in Forensic Sciences
November 9-10, 2006
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sponsored by:
The American Board of Forensic Document Examiners
(www.ABFDE.org)
Daubert is still here and continues to play a pivotal role in the world of expert opinion testimony. Various forensic sciences, such as Documents, Fingerprints, and Firearms/Toolmarks have not been immune to these challenges.
During a Daubert hearing, the trial judge serves as a “gatekeeper” and must determine whether the expected trial testimony has a reliable basis in the knowledge and experience of the relevant discipline. In assessing the reliability of an expert’s testimony, the court may consider the following:
Whether the technique or methodology has been or can be tested
Whether the technique or methodology has been subjected to peer review
Known or potential error rates
Existence of standards controlling the technique’s operation
Extent to which the methodology or technique employed by the expert is generally accepted in the scientific community
The factors as laid out by the Daubert Court, although not intended to be a checklist, are routinely being utilized as such by the “gatekeeper”. The expert and the attorney must be prepared to present and discuss each factor. Failure to adequately address each of these may result in the exclusion of the expert’s testimony, or in the alternative, limiting the testimony of the expert at trial.
Recent court decisions have commented on the expert’s participation, or lack thereof, in proficiency testing. Experts from several fields, including the cognitive sciences, attorneys, experts in Documents, Latent Prints, and Firearms, and, Judge Domitrovich will discuss the court’s current focus on proficiency testing and error rates; and how these two issues can impact the forensic expert’s testimony.
The paradigm of the forensic sciences is the focus of this seminar. Ongoing cognitive science research, the courts interpretation of Daubert, and the steps each discipline has taken to address each of the Daubert factors will be discussed.
.
Speakers include:
Judge Stephanie Domitrovich (Erie County, PA)
Dr. Itiel Dror (England)
Dr. Thomas Busey (Indiana)
Dr. Bryan Found (Australia)
Mr. David R. Ausbaugh (Canada)
Ms. Lisa Steele, Esquire (Massachussetts)
Mr. Ronald Nichols (ATF, California)
Mr. Derek Hammond (Georgia)
Ms. Alice Maceo (Nevada)
Ms. Jan Seaman Kelly
The exclusive list of speakers will discuss numerous issues pertaining to forensic science and Daubert, to include the following:
Judicial Expectations in Daubert Hearings
What Do the Courts Want?: Individual Error Rates and Peer Review
How the Cognitive and Visual Sciences Might Help (and Hurt) in a Daubert Hearing
Friction Ridge Identification Science: Theory, Technique including Error Rates, Operational Standards: How to Meet the Daubert Standards
The Appellate Process
Firearms: How It Meets Daubert
Firearms Challenges
Error Rates in the Medical Community
Hope to see some of our forensic folks here!
The Paradigm Shift in Forensic Sciences
November 9-10, 2006
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sponsored by:
The American Board of Forensic Document Examiners
(www.ABFDE.org)
Daubert is still here and continues to play a pivotal role in the world of expert opinion testimony. Various forensic sciences, such as Documents, Fingerprints, and Firearms/Toolmarks have not been immune to these challenges.
During a Daubert hearing, the trial judge serves as a “gatekeeper” and must determine whether the expected trial testimony has a reliable basis in the knowledge and experience of the relevant discipline. In assessing the reliability of an expert’s testimony, the court may consider the following:
Whether the technique or methodology has been or can be tested
Whether the technique or methodology has been subjected to peer review
Known or potential error rates
Existence of standards controlling the technique’s operation
Extent to which the methodology or technique employed by the expert is generally accepted in the scientific community
The factors as laid out by the Daubert Court, although not intended to be a checklist, are routinely being utilized as such by the “gatekeeper”. The expert and the attorney must be prepared to present and discuss each factor. Failure to adequately address each of these may result in the exclusion of the expert’s testimony, or in the alternative, limiting the testimony of the expert at trial.
Recent court decisions have commented on the expert’s participation, or lack thereof, in proficiency testing. Experts from several fields, including the cognitive sciences, attorneys, experts in Documents, Latent Prints, and Firearms, and, Judge Domitrovich will discuss the court’s current focus on proficiency testing and error rates; and how these two issues can impact the forensic expert’s testimony.
The paradigm of the forensic sciences is the focus of this seminar. Ongoing cognitive science research, the courts interpretation of Daubert, and the steps each discipline has taken to address each of the Daubert factors will be discussed.
.
Speakers include:
Judge Stephanie Domitrovich (Erie County, PA)
Dr. Itiel Dror (England)
Dr. Thomas Busey (Indiana)
Dr. Bryan Found (Australia)
Mr. David R. Ausbaugh (Canada)
Ms. Lisa Steele, Esquire (Massachussetts)
Mr. Ronald Nichols (ATF, California)
Mr. Derek Hammond (Georgia)
Ms. Alice Maceo (Nevada)
Ms. Jan Seaman Kelly
The exclusive list of speakers will discuss numerous issues pertaining to forensic science and Daubert, to include the following:
Judicial Expectations in Daubert Hearings
What Do the Courts Want?: Individual Error Rates and Peer Review
How the Cognitive and Visual Sciences Might Help (and Hurt) in a Daubert Hearing
Friction Ridge Identification Science: Theory, Technique including Error Rates, Operational Standards: How to Meet the Daubert Standards
The Appellate Process
Firearms: How It Meets Daubert
Firearms Challenges
Error Rates in the Medical Community
See you soon?