Becoming a Forensics Expert

Besides being “court-qualified” as an expert in Forensic Photography and Forensic Videography, my first court qualification is actually in Forensic Audio.

To become a court expert in something, the expert being proffered is most likely required to go through a process called “Voir Dire.” This is really like a trial within a trial in which the judge must make a decision whether the opinion evidence being offered by the “expert in question” is allowed to be used in court.

The judge after hearing direct and cross examination of the qualifications of the expert must determine if the witness has enough expertise in the field to even testify. Once it is determined that the witness is “court-qualified,” the witness can then offer his opinion on the case.

Opinion evidence is strictly that… an opinion. Unlike other evidence which is substantiated by eye witnesses, this evidence is strictly the expert’s professional opinion. The jury then must decide if the evidence offered by the expert is worthy to be used to sway them to that way of thinking.

In my case, I had been working for the District Attorney’s Office in San Diego County and had been enhancing audio tapes for court for some time. Basically this meant removing noise on a recording and making the voices on a recording more intelligible. Well, a case came up in which one of our deputy DA’s wanted me to testify on an opinion regarding a sound on an audio tape which was being offered by the defense that appeared to be a gunshot.

Up to that point, I had never testified in court before as an expert witness, although I had testified at many trials describing how I did my work on photos and other documentary evidence. So to be able to testify as an expert to give professional opinions, I had to go through Voir Dire. For forty-five long grueling minutes, I was questioned on direct examination and then questioned on cross examination. Back and forth it went in which questions about my background in electronics, my background in audio engineering, my background in law enforcement and experience in working with courtroom evidence came into question.

After it was all done, the defense naturally objected to my being allowed to be a witness in the case stating that I was under-qualified to do so (that’s what they say about all witnesses that they don’t want to testify.) But in the end, the judge stated that in the opinion of the court that… “Mr. Lowe is well qualified to testify in this case as an expert witness in the area of Forensic Audio and that the court recognizes him to be an expert witness in this field.”

That’s all it took and from that point on, I was considered an expert in the field of Forensic Audio! Now at any trial, I can state that the Superior Court of the State of California had found me to be qualified to testify in Criminal cases in the area of Forensic Audio. Many other states will recognize this and skip the voir dire process again for their state (it just saves time by acknowledging it.)

Later, I was offered as an expert in the areas of Forensic Photography and Forensic Videography. But my reputation in San Diego courts had been well established by that time and so the defense just stipulated that they were well aware of my qualifications and accepted me to testify without questioning through Voir Dire for this area of expertise. So with that being said, I was an instant expert in Forensic Photography and Forensic Videography. The deputy DA told me that it was the fastest Court Qualification he had ever seen since working in criminal court. Instant expert witness qualification!

Today, because of my work in wedding photography, I have very little time to do work in the field of forensics, but I’m still court qualified to do it if I decide I want to work on a case. Most of the cases I had worked on in the past were criminal cases, but I did get a chance to work on some that were civil cases.

Oh... how did that trial turn out after I testified about the audio evidence? Well I basically helped discredit the defense's own audio expert witness (who then was seen storming off the stand and out of the courtroom frustrated and embarrased) and we won our case and sent the defendant to prison.