US Expert Witness News: No More "Junk Science" Acquitals in Florida
Litigation Attorney William Shepherd participated in a radio interview with WFSU on Florida's Supreme
Court decision to adopt the Daubert standard for expert witness testimonies.
former statewide prosecutor of Florida, Mr William Shepherd had pushed to get the Daubert standard approved.
For years Florida's highest court had used the Fyre standard, which is a lower standard than Daubert.
"I didn't want to have to explain to a grieving mother why her daughter's killer
had been walked out the back of the courtroom door on some crazy junk science defense," said Mr. Shepherd.
Mr. Shepherd had referred to the Frye standard as "junk science." He explains, "Florida trailed behind the bulk of the state courts around the country and also the federal court system.
The federal court adopted this (Daubert) more than 20 years ago. The idea is that unlike the state
of Florida Frye system which allowed an expert's pure opinion to come in - the testimony has to be based on reliable science that can be tested and repeated."
"It will help defendants who are accused of crimes so that we will not have "the dog whisperer" who testified that his dog caught only guilty defendants...or the other side of that - the smellologist in Orlando who said his nose was specially trained and he could tell how long a dead
body had been removed from a car trunk," says Mr. Shepherd on how the Daubert standard will impact the legal aspect.
https://witnessdirectory.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daubert_standard
