Expert Testimony about Eyewitness Identification

This post addresses three recurrent issues concerning eyewitness identification:

  1. When, if at all, is expert testimony about eyewitness identification admissible?
  2. When, if at all, is an indigent defendant entitled to funds with which to hire an expert on eyewitness identification?
  3. May jury instructions, rather than expert testimony, be used to inform the jury about factors relevant to the accuracy of an eyewitness identification?

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Visual Identification of Drugs (Again)

The longest opinion issued by the court of appeals this week was Judge Ervin’s 45-page treatise in State v. Ward, __ N.C. App. __ (2009). Although the opinion contains other important material, I want to focus on the court’s holding that the method used by an SBI agent to identify certain prescription drugs was “not … Read more