Archive for the ‘Evidence’ Category

An Automobile Tracking Device can Easily be Used in Utah

May

Jessica, on the topic of Constitutional Rights, Evidence

photo: OldOnliner

On January 11, 2010 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers neighboring states like Arizona, Nevada and Idaho & has influence over what the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (which governs Utah Federal caselaw) ruled on the case of the US v. Pinedo-Moreno. In this case evidence was used from a tracking device that was attached to the undercarrage of the Defendant/Appellant’s car. The court stated that the evidence was legally obtained and could be used even though the tracking device was attached to the car when it was parked in the owner’s driveway. This was largely due to the fact that there was no gate or sign barring entry to the driveway and the car was clearly visible from the street.

Since anyone could potentially be on the driveway, look under the car, and you could easily be followed in your vehicle, this car had no “reasonable expectation of privacy” at the location and time of the tracking attachment. This essentially means that police can use tracking devices on your vehicle very easily as the device does not constitute a search. Your vehicle could have a device attached without your knowing.

Your right to privacy concerning your motor-vehicle is continuing to dwindle as the United States Supreme Court has already held that when traveling on public roads a citizen has no reasonable expectation of privacy. Without defense lawyers working hard to protect a person’s privacy rights more and more intrusive evidence may be used in the court of law. Please hire the absolute best Utah criminal defense lawyer you can afford and protect your rights when being charged with a crime.

Tags: Evidence, privacy, right to privacy, tracking device
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Loss of Fingerprints in Utah: Cancer drug may remove fingerprints

May

Jessica, on the topic of Evidence, Legal Process

photo: fazen

The drug Capecitabine is used to treat many types of cancer, often to prevent the cancer from reoccurring. However, one of the drug’s side-effects is the constant inflammation of the hands and/or feet. This inflammation can cause the skin to peel, bleed and blister, which long-term can cause the user’s fingerprints to disappear. This is a serious problem. Many patients who have lost their fingerprints due to Capecitabine carry documents illustrating their identity and the reason for the loss of fingerprints. However, the loss of identifying factors could easily become a problem within the criminal justice system. There are other ways to cause swelling in one’s extremities which could lead to the peeling and blistering away of fingerprints. Fingerprints can be an essential piece of evidence for a crime. If you are concerned about your connection to fingerprints that may be involved with a crime in Salt Lake City you should contact the best Utah criminal attorney you can afford to advise you of your rights.

Tags: Fingerprints, Lost Evidence
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State of Utah v. Deon Lomax Clopten : Eyewitness Testimony is often Inaccurate

Apr

Jessica, on the topic of Evidence

photo: ~BostonBill~

Since DNA testing was first introduced in the 1990s it has been used to free wrongly convicted prisoners, including some that were sentenced to death. Many of these innocents were incarcerated due to the testimony of an eyewitness. This demonstrates that many of these eyewitnesses provided faulty testimony without knowing it. There are many reasons why an eyewitness may strongly believe in the false information they are presenting. First, certain attributes such as psychological disorders and substance dependency make a person more likely to be involved in criminal activity and therefore more likely to be falsely connected to a crime. Next, jurors often believe more in a witness who claims to be very sure about their testimony even though their accuracy is nearly the same as the less confident. Third, the way in which the human memory works makes it very susceptible to false recall. The human mind does not work like a camera storing information and playing it back when needed. Instead, memories are reconstructed each time they are needed. Other pieces of information could unknowingly be combined into the memory, leading to false recall. Certain factors can reduce the accuracy of eyewitness identification such as:

The way in which a lawyer questions the eyewitness
Extreme stress
Presence of a weapon at the crime scene
Use of a disguise during the crime
A racial disparity between the witness and the suspect
Limited viewing time during identification
Lack of distinctive characteristics to aid in identification

It would be very difficult to minimize such errors of testimony as the witness often feels very strongly about the accuracy of their recollection. One suggestion to remedy the situation is to allow an expert on eyewitness identification to testify in court to educate the jurors on the process in which an eyewitness recalls facts. In most U.S. jurisdictions such experts have not been allowed in the courtroom. However, in Utah, in December of 2009 in the case of the State of Utah v. Deon Lomax Clopten the Supreme Court of Utah overturned a murder conviction in which the trial judge refused to allow an expert on eyewitness identification to testify for the defense.

Tags: Evidence, eyewitness, eyewitness testimony
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Dollar Bills in Utah Carry Cocaine

Mar

Jessica, on the topic of Evidence, drugs

photo: In a N.Y. State Of Mind

Many of the dollar bills you come in contact with in Utah carry cocaine. The American Chemical Society conducted a study in 2009 that found traces of cocaine on 90% of the U.S. paper currency. However, most of the bills were not used to snort cocaine and did not even pass through the hands of a drug kingpin. The bills usually come in contact with the cocaine through indirect methods. The few bills that are actually used for the purposes of cocaine continue to carry some of the drug. Cocaine is an extremely fine powder and when the contaminated bills change hands they leave a trail of cocaine. The largest spread of the drug happens at banks, casinos, and other big gatherings of currency. When the contaminated bills make it to a bank they are often put in a counting machine or ATM. Then, the cocaine passes to the other bills in the machines. More importantly the fine powder is left behind in the machines and continues to transfer to other dollar bills passing through. Such small amounts of the very fine powder would only be detectable on the hands of those who come across very large quantities of dollar bills. This type of environmental contamination from large amounts of currency has occurred in Utah. In the case of the State of Utah v. Dale Moroni Gibbons the Utah criminal defense attorney Clayton Simms argued that the defendant, the Chief Financial Officer of Zions Bank, was surrounded by U.S. currency that was contaminated with illegal substances, including cocaine. In closing arguments at the jury trial Clayton Simms argued that the defendant’s positive hair test for cocaine was a result of environmental contamination. The jury acquitted the defendant of all charges including possession of a controlled substance, and he walked out of court a free man.

Tags: cocaine, Criminal Defense, drugs, innocent
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Utah Polygraph (Lie Detector) Tests

May

Jesse, on the topic of Evidence

Photo: JaeYong

A polygraph (popularly referred to as a lie detector) is an instrument that measures and records several physiological responses such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, breathing rhythms, body temperature and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions, on the theory that false answers will produce distinctive measurements. The polygraph measures physiological changes caused by the sympathetic nervous system during questioning.

Today, polygraph examiners use two types of instrumentation: analog and computerized. In Utah and throughout the United States, most examiners now use computerized instrumentation.

A typical Utah polygraph test starts with a pre-test interview to gain some preliminary information which will later be used for “Control Questions”, or CQ. Then the tester will explain how the polygraph is supposed to work, emphasizing that it can detect lies and that it is important to answer truthfully. Then a “stim test” is often conducted: the subject is asked to deliberately lie and then the tester reports that he was able to detect this lie. Then the actual test starts. Some of the questions asked are “Irrelevant” or IR (”Is your name John Doe?”), others are “probable-lie” Control Questions that most people will lie about (”Have you ever stolen money?”) and the remainder are the “Relevant Questions “, or RQ, that the tester is really interested in. The different types of questions alternate. The test is passed if the physiological responses during the probable-lie control questions (CQ) are larger than those during the relevant questions (RQ). If this is not the case, the tester attempts to elicit admissions during a post-test interview, for example, “Your situation will only get worse if we don’t clear this up”.

Criticisms have been given regarding the validity of the administration of the Control Questions test (CQT). The CQT may be vulnerable to being conducted in an interrogation-like fashion. This kind of interrogation style would elicit a nervous response from innocent and guilty suspects alike.

Numerous studies of polygraph validity have achieved rates of 80-95% for the kinds of tests used with specific issues, such as allegations in criminal cases. Validity of polygraph remains controversial. Despite claims of 90-95% reliability, critics charge that rather than a “test”, the method amounts to an inherently unstandardizable interrogation technique whose accuracy cannot be established.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph

Tags: Polygraph
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