Reporting Witness
Reporting witness: Called after teaching witness leaves stand. Usually the laboratory technician who personally conducted the test. Witness will describe both the test and the results. When describing test, will venture opinions that proper test procedures were used and that equipment was in good working order.
- Whether witness is qualified to conduct test. Could qualify as expert by virtue of "skill" gained through "experience & training" (FRE 702)—usually experiential, on-the-job training.
- Whether the witness received the correct object to be tested. (Chain of Custody satisfying FRE 104(b)).
- Whether the instrument(s) involved were in proper working order.
- Proof-test procedures were used. This split the courts, but under CL, most Jx require foundational proof that the witness used proper testing procedures on the occasion in question.
- Statement of test result: witness says what the results were. (This provides an excellent place to place physical evidence.) Remember, validating scientific evidence raises a logical relevance issue, as does the authentication (e.g. with enlarged photo).
Read more about this topic: Scientific Evidence (law)
Famous quotes containing the words reporting and/or witness:
“I have been reporting club meetings for four years and I am tired of hearing reviews of the books I was brought up on. I am tired of amateur performances at occasions announced to be for purposes either of enjoyment or improvement. I am tired of suffering under the pretense of acquiring culture. I am tired of hearing the word “culture” used so wantonly. I am tired of essays that let no guilty author escape quotation.”
—Josephine Woodward, U.S. author. As quoted in Everyone Was Brave, ch. 3, by William L. O’Neill (1969)
“Someone said: “There are two people to whom I have never given a lot of thought: that bears witness to my love for them.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)