05/22/10 (Online): Experts and Eyewitness Testimony We spotted this in the New York Criminal Bar Newsletter and thought our readers would find it a fascinating insight into how U.S courts have adopted an interesting approach in allowing experts to give evidence relating to the testimony of eye witnesses. The link takes you to the online PDF.

05/18/10 (NY): fMRI Brain Scans Unreliable, Says Judge State-of-the-art brain scans that would have been utilized as evidence for the first time in New York were shot down by a Brooklyn judge who deemed the technology unreliable.

05/18/10 (AUS): High Court Rejects DNA Challenge The High Court of Australia has thrown out a case that sought to challenge the use of DNA evidence in criminal trials.

05/16/10 (VAT): Vatican Details U.S Sex Abuse Defense The Vatican will make its most detailed defense yet against claims that it is liable for U.S. bishops who allowed priests to molest children, saying bishops are not its employees and that a 1962 Vatican document did not require them to keep quiet, The Associated Press has learned.

05/12/10 (NY): DNA Tests Prove Presence of Victim's Blood, Says Expert A DNA expert confirmed that blood found on Scott Doll was that of the man he is accused of murdering. Ellyn Colquhoun, a forensic biologist at Monroe County Public Safety Laboratory, was the second witness called during the seventh day of the Genesee County Court trial of Doll.

05/07/10 (FL): 'Expert' Testimony Biased and Not Credible, Says Judge Controversial anti-gay activist Dr. George Rekers, who is now embroiled in his own gay controversy after admitting to hiring a gay male prostitute to carry his bags on a European trip, was paid by a team of lawyers headed by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum in a court case defending Florida's ban on gays adopting children.

05/05/10 (DC): Lord Monckton Called as 'Expert' by U.S. Republicans House Republicans have chosen Lord Christopher Monckton, a non-scientist, as their sole witness at a hearing in front of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. The decision has left even the skeptics bemused.

04/23/10 (CAN): No Brains Allowed "My whole brain is in there," said the Canadian lawyer Sean Robichaud as his MacBook computer was declared by a magistrate to be unsuitable for the courtroom. The magistrate aborted the criminal trial and adjourned it until August so that Mr Robichaud could use a printer or fountain pen to carry out the necessary brain transplant to paper folders.

04/23/10 (MI): FBI Expert Testimony Called Into Question An FBI agent has testified that the person who killed a New Baltimore couple more than three years ago surprised them with the attack because he knew them. Agent Robert Morton, an expert in crime scene assessment, testified via video hookup from Virginia that the motive for the violent slayings of Ronald G. and Christine Jabalee, both 58, at their home in 2006 was "personal cause."