NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES,STRENGTHENING FORENSIC SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES: A PATH FORWARD (National Academies Press 2009) aka NAS Report
D.C. appeals court upholds t/c's ruling that the NAS report on fingerprints (specifically, friction ridge analysis) not a learned treatise for purposes of cross-examination under FRE 803(18)[similar to TRE 803(18)]. Read opinion at: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/10-cf-1493.pdf
Posts: 444 | Location: Austin, Texas, USA | Registered: January 06, 2010
This holding is consistent with other litigation that focused on trying to use the NAS report to attack particular fields of expertise (especially fingerprint comparison). TDCAA released a helpful sheet for prosecutors that summarized the law in this area and shows prosecutors how to deal with the issue of establishing the predicate for a fingerprint examiner. You also can consult the Predicate Manual.
