1. Discuss the issue of forensic analysts’ reports and expert opinions in relati
ID: 3920886 • Letter: 1
Question
1. Discuss the issue of forensic analysts’ reports and expert opinions in relation to testimony being admissible by analysts who did not actually conduct the laboratory analysis themselves. What do you see as possible issues with this being permitted?
2. Briefly trace the steps in a typical state felony case from commission of the crime to habeas corpus. Briefly describe what happens at each step. What are the legal methods by which someone convicted in state court could challenge their conviction in a federal court?
3. Discuss the sufficiency-of-evidence requirement in relation to a guilty verdict.
4.Review the Nix v. Williams case and respond to the following: do you feel that the Supreme Court made the correct assumption in stating that the searchers probably would have found the deceased girl’s body even without the information provided by Williams? If the Supreme Court had ruled that the subsequent discovery of the body and related evidence was fruit of the poisonous tree would justice have been served? Why or why not?
Explanation / Answer
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Q1.Answer)
The abundant use of computers have led to much efficiency and productivity and also increased the rise of internet crime which are done to the computers and users. Thus in this case the extraction of data and the presentation of the electronic evidence in the court of law to present the crime is very important. Also, forensics are conducted with the help of computers for other crimes as well. There are ethical and legal obligations and laws while collecting the forensic details and presenting them into the court. Like any profession related to law, computer forensics should be conducted ethically and under the law. The data taken as an evidence should not be tampered with in any part of its cycle. Thus any mistake on the data collection or on part of the investigator can compromise the evidence and contaminate it. The data taken should be investigated well enough and presented with concusions in the court of law. Thus we understand that the forensic evidence should be presented by the law enforcing bodies as it is. According to the above question, as the forensic analysis are conducted in labs many a times, thus forensic analysts should be present who has conducted the tests rather than some body who is present in the court for testimony but who did not actually conduct the laboratory analysis themselves. Thus, forensic analysts’ reports and expert opinions in relation to testimony should be mandatory for the analyst to be present in court rather than doing laboratory analysis. The possible issue of somebody is giving testimony on the behalf of the analyst who conducted laboratory analysis themselves are:
The person appearing in the court to give testimony might not be aware of many things done by the analyst who conducted the tests.
What was the state of the sample which was collected from the crime scene.
How were the results obtained and how efficienct were the results.
Knowledge of the analysis that occured for the particular case.
Thus even if the person is appearing in court, he might not be aware of many things about the collection, processing and how and what the results were obtained and what they actually indicate, for the forensic sample which was collected. Thus this should not be permitted and should be required for the analyst who conducted the tests to be present.
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