Thursday, February 12, 2004

GPS Evidence in Dispute at Peterson Murder Trial

The court in the Laci Peterson murder trial is conducting a hearing into the admissibility of evidence from GPS devices that police planted on Scott Peterson's vehicles, to track his comings and goings during the weeks after she was reported missing. It is apparently an issue of first impression in the California courts.
Fed. R. Evid. 702: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.