Kentucky Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers

DETECTIVE: HEIGHT-WEIGHT DESCRIPTIONS ARE NOT RELIABLE

PROSECUTOR:  In your experience in a general sense, what can you say, generally speaking, about the descriptions, including height, weight and other descriptors of victims, that often turn out to be the case?

DETECTIVE:  "In a general sense, based on my sixteen-and-a-half years of experience working serial crimes, and even in every database, for example, the height-weight scenario is useless and they're not even included in the analysis.  There are exceptions to that, and that would be an instance where some person was a giant, for example, or a person that was very, very small.  And then I have found that a person under one of those two circumstances, evidence could be considered credible under those circumstances.  And the, what you have here, in these violent crimes, is trauma, and the trauma affects these type of denominators."

         Listen to the statement                                                 Read the transcript

VIRGINIA STUDY FINDS INVALID EXPERT TESTIMONY
LED TO THE CONVICTION OF INNOCENT DEFENDANTS

"This study found that in the bulk of these trials of innocent defendants - 82 cases or 60 percent - forensic analysts called by the prosecution provided invalid testimony at trial - that is, testimony with conclusions misstating empirical data or wholly unsupported by empirical data. This was not the testimony of a mere handful of analysts: this set of trials included invalid testimony by seventy-two forensic analysts called by the prosecution and employed by fifty-two laboratories, practices, or hospitals from twenty-five states."

Invalid Forensic Science Testimony and Wrongful Convictions
by Brandon L. Garrett and Peter J. Neufeld

From Virginia Law Review, March 2009, Volume 95, Issue 1

Go to the Virginia Law Review

SEARCHES:  KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
POLICE MAY GIVE YOU BAD LEGAL ADVICE
When are police legally allowed to search me?
What is "probable cause"?
When do I have to show ID?
Are the police allowed to lie?
When can police order me out of the car?
Roadblocks: What's the deal?
What are my rights in a college dorm?
Can I be arrested for videotaping or photographing police?
Get answers to these questions and more!

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KACDL ATTORNEYS CONCENTRATE
ON CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAW!

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The Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (KACDL) was formed in 1986 by renowned criminal defense lawyers Frank Haddad, Charlie Coy and Bill Johnson, along with other prominent attorneys, to address the criminal defense bar's lack of influence in the drafting of Kentucky's Truth-in-Sentencing law, and the manner and form in which it was enacted. In the twenty-three years since KACDL was organized, it has effectively and progressively interacted with the General Assembly in the legislative process. KACDL has had an active voice in the 1997 Governor's Criminal Justice Response Team, the 2003 Kentucky Penal Code Revision Project, the Kentucky Criminal Justice Council and the Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Committee, speaking on behalf of the criminally accused and providing support for their defenders.

Today, KACDL is the only organized, statewide, all-inclusive group of criminal defense lawyers in Kentucky. We remain committed to penal code reform, to fairness and justice for all citizens accused of crimes in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and to unwavering service to the criminal defense community through effective and supportive networking, advocacy and education.

KACDL offers KBA-approved CLE events centered on the practice of criminal law twice annually, in June and at KACDL's Annual Conference in November.

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