Thursday, April 13, 2006

California High Court Upholds Forensic Hair Comparison Evidence

The California Supreme Court has upheld forensic hair comparison evidence against a challenge from a criminal defendant who argued that the evidence was so unreliable as to violate his Due Process rights. Interestingly, the defendant raised no Kelly/Frye argument against the admissibility of the evidence on appeal, and no Due Process arguments at trial. The Kelly/Frye objections that he did raise at trial were deemed sufficient to preserve the Due Process arguments that he raised only on appeal. See People v. Huggins, No. S037006 (Calif. Apr. 10, 2006).

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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.