Jury Misconceptions #5

A criminal district court judge (felonies) told me this one originally, which has since been confirmed by many other criminal judges. Thanks to CSI, many jurors expect forensic evidence in all cases and have doubts that the state has proven its case without it.

With all due respect to the forensic experts who toil in obscurity at crime scenes and labs around the country, forensic science can’t prove everything. Nor is it necessary in every case.

For example, if an alleged perpetrator showed up at the victim’s house in the middle of a party, entered and shot the victim in front of a crowd of people who disarmed the alleged perpetrator and held him for police, forensic evidence would add very little to the state’s case. Still, some prospective jurors will expect it.

As a friend of mine who is in management with AT&T wrote me in another context, technology is great. It allows us to mess up things in way unheard of two generations ago. I guess that the belief that some prospective jurors have in the necessity of forensic evidence is just a symptom of how technology has affected our culture. Since it is highly unlikely that technology is going away any time soon, we might has well just learn to deal with it.