EXCLUSIVE NACDL MEMBER BENEFIT
WHEN: Monday, September 16, 2:00-3:30pm ET / 11:00am-12:30pm PT
CLE CREDIT: not available
COST: Free

This training program will aid those working to defend persons accused of homicide in drug-related overdose deaths. Each section of the program focuses on a different aspect of these cases. CLE is not available for this program.

Subject matter experts and litigators from NACDL’s Fourth Amendment Center explain and discuss some of the important digital technology issues that defense counsel will very likely encounter in these cases. The faculty focus on reverse searches, facial recognition, and device searches.

Gain a better understanding of the issues and the science involved in the defense of pregnancy-related charges. This training provides essential information for any lawyer defending a client facing pregnancy-related charges, including those involving drug use, child abuse / endangerment during pregnancy, and abortion related charges. The faculty of medical experts discusses the medical issues and science of these cases.

Police departments across the country are starting to use facial recognition technology to identify suspects, and body camera manufacturers are working to incorporate the technology into their products. This emerging technology has many flaws, which render its results unreliable. Defenders need to understand the technology and its limitations, be aware of how it is being deployed, and know how to challenge its use in their cases.

Understanding the Issues & the Science

Gain a better understanding of the issues and the science surrounding pregnancy-related prosecutions from criminal defense, medical, and reproductive justice experts. 

Forensic DNA Interpretation and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach – This important report, the third in a series that includes previous reports in latent print examination and handwriting analysis, focuses on human factors in DNA analysis.

Even in jurisdictions where laboratories have not yet adopted standards on the OSAC Registry, understanding forensic standards and how to use them is critical for any attorney managing a case with forensic science evidence.

This presentation describes the scope of bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA), a forensic discipline which mainly aims at evaluating the physical events responsible for blood traces. The large error rates of about 10% are explained by the nature and methods of the discipline. By its nature, BPA associates activities to blood traces, a task inherently more complex than comparing two traces of the same nature, like DNA or fingermarks.

See Dr. Attinger's answers to clarification questions below the list of hyperlinked documents.

Forensic DNA expert Tiffany Roy describes five common types of flawed forensic DNA testimony she encounters when she reviews transcripts of analysts’ testimony.

A cell phone’s location can be detected through cell site location information (CSLI) or global positioning system (GPS) data. CSLI refers to the information collected as a cell phone identifies its location to nearby cell towers.

Amicus Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

This comment from the Fourth Amendment Center addresses the National Institute of Standards and Technology's report "Digital Investigation Techniques: A Scientific Foundation Review."

Cell Site Simulators, also known as IMSI catchers or Stingrays, mimic cell towers and trick phones within their radius into communicating with them instead, during which they are able to collect information about the device. Using a cell site simualtor is a Fourth Amendment Search, sometimes conducted without a court order. This resource explains this technology works, their judical authorization, how to identify this evidence in a case, and how to challenge that evidence. 

This month Jaime Roman reviews Justice for Baby Roston by Robert A. Anderson Sr.