People who submit DNA for ancestry testing can unwittingly become genetic informants on their innocent family members when the police search an ancestry DNA databanks for partial matches. Until there are meaningful statutory protections and robust quality assurance...
COSA Treating it as Modern-Day Equivalent of Telephone Tip Facial profiling technology is a new weapon in the investigative arsenal with big-data implications for the collection, use, and retention of facial images (and gait—for longer range identification) in...
Although DNA/forensic science may appear to swiftly and reliably solve crimes with flashy graphics on television crime dramas, John Oliver called out the “bullshit” of forensic science on “Last Week, Tonight” (originally aired Oct. 1, 2017). HBO has posted Oliver’s...
Rochkind: The COA Clarifies Maryland’s Hybrid Daubert/Frye Legal Framework Governing Admissibility Of Expert Testimony. In Rochkind v. Stevenson, 454 Md. 277 (2017) the COA took a close look at the third prong of Rule 5-702, which requires that an expert’s opinion be...
Steve Mercer Invited to Address the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) (Washington, D.C.) On January 14, 2016, Steve Mercer addressed by invitation PCAST during a closed session. Steve also submitted this written statement discussing the...
3 NG’s in Murder Trials Highlight Limits Of Cell Phone Location Evidence Appointed public defenders recently secured acquittals in three murder prosecutions involving cell phone location evidence that was central to the State’s theories of guilt. These defense...
The COSA Holds Drug Court Sanction Involving Jail Is Appealable; Due Process Rights of Participants Violated When Drug Failed To Conduct Formal Adversarial Hearing. Reported in the Court of Special Appeals (April 27, 2017): Brookman v. State (No. 182) & Carnes v....
The strong demand in criminal cases for historical cellular location information has created opportunities for law enforcement to extend the limits of what is possible. The FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST) is promoting a new methodology that it claims greatly...
On May 27, the Court of Special Appeals in State v. Hailes, 2014 Md. App. LEXIS 49 (2014) (Moylan, J.), held that a common law dying declaration (not the broader rule based dying declaration) is exempt from the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause, and...
June 2014 At its May 22nd conference, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in twelve of the fifteen petitions–some held since the beginning of the term–that asked the Court to resolve the conflict in lower courts over when a forensic science report is testimonial for...