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DNA - A Prosecutor’s Practice Notebook Inventory

The Defense's Expert Witness

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If the defense retains an expert witness who generates a report, upon receiving the report the prosecutor should carefully review it with the state's analyst/expert witness. The prosecutor should have the analyst attend any defense expert deposition relating to the case.

Some considerations for the prosecutor include:

  1. What are the defense expert witness qualifications/reputation?
  2. Potential weaknesses in the report and areas for the prosecutor to attack
  3. Potential strengths of the report and how to counter them
  4. Is there anything in the report which would exclude the defendant?
  5. If anything in the defense independent report is different from the state's, the prosecution should obtain the defense raw data. 

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