Retaining and Working with Expert Witnesses

• Author: Anthony G. Amsterdam/Martin Guggenheim/Randy A. Hertz
• Profession: University Professor and Professor of Law at New York University/Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law/Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law
• Pages: 237-243

237

CHAPTER 11

RETAINING AND

WORKING WITH

EXPERT WITNESSES

§ 11.01 Deciding Whether to Retain an Expert Witness

There are a host of types of ex pert witnesses t hat may be useful in a deli nquency case.

Some of the most commonly used are:

1. Fingerprint examiners;

2. Ballistics experts;

3. Narcotics and drug experts;

4. A variety of mental health ex perts, including psychiatrist s, psychologists, and neu-

rologists (see §§ 12.08 –12.10 infra);

5. H andwriting ex perts and questioned-document examiners;

6. Arson experts;

7. Shoeprint/tiretread experts;

8. Polygraph exa miners;

9. Se rolog is ts;

10. Forensic pathologists;

11. Hair and fiber examiners;

12. DNA experts;

13. Experts on eyewitness identif ications (see, e.g., Peo ple v. Santi ago, 17 N.Y.3d 661,

672–73, 958 N.E.2d 874, 883–84, 934 N.Y.S.2d 746, 754–55 (2011); State v. Hender-

son, 208 N.J. 208, 283–85, 289, 297–98, 27 A.3d 872, 916–17, 920, 925 (2011)); and

14. Ex perts on the factors that can produce a fa lse confession (see, e.g., People v. B edessie,

19 N.Y.3d 147, 149, 161, 970 N.E.2d 380, 381, 388–89, 947 N.Y.S.2d 357, 358, 365–

66 (2012)).

The list of potential expert s is limited only by the reach of counsel’s imagination.

For example, counsel could end up using an automobile accident reconstruction expert

(to explain the sequence of events in a vehicular homicide), an odontologist (to testif y

in an identification case that many youths other than the respondent possess gaps in

their teeth that match those observed in the perpet rator), or even an arborist (to testify