Federal Rules of Evidence

Assignment Details

You are an intern working with a state crime scene investigation team that has statewide jurisdiction and gets called in by county and municipal authorities for crime scene analysis and laboratory support. A number of larger cities in the state have their own crime scene units. Because crime scene investigators (CSIs) get called into court to testify as expert witnesses, your unit has a lot of opportunities to testify in court. The state you live and work in has assumed the Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 702 as their own for expert witness testimony. They also have the Frye Standard (common in many states).

You will be presenting a paper to the State Division of the International Association for Identification Conference in the Capital next week. You will be presenting a paper on the topic of the admissibility of expert witness testimony in court.

Address the following in 3-4 pages:

How would you define what makes someone an expert witness?
Who can be an expert witness? Explain.
What restrictions are placed on expert witnesses?
How are lay witnesses and expert witnesses different? Explain in detail.
Explain the Daubert Rule in contrast to the Frye Standard, and disclose which one of the two would allow for the identification of more expert witnesses if they were used exclusively.