Forensic Pathology for Trial Lawyers (From Scientific and Expert Evidence - Second Edition, P 1141-1164, 1981, Edward J Imwinkelried, ed. - See NCJ-88831)

• NCJ Number: 88849
• Author(s): C H Wecht
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: Practicing Law Institute
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Aspects of forensic pathology that should be of interest to trial lawyers are the training and qualifications of forensic pathologists, the autopsy, types of determinations a forensic pathologist can make, and the credibility of the pathologist.

Abstract

Attorneys should appreciate that forensic pathologists and hospital pathologists perform autopsies with quite different perspectives. Because most hospital autopsies involve natural deaths, the hospital pathologist has little opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge required to provide data and conclusions relevant to the legal issues associated with the manner of death. The forensic pathologist is trained in these areas. The good forensic pathologist will make the data from the autopsy as pure and objective as possible, carefully separating the objective findings of the autopsy from subjective conclusions in the autopsy report. A microscopic examination of tissues is particularly important if a report is to be complete. Types of determinations a forensic pathologist can make include timing of the death, time of injuries, and causes of death. Limitations on these determinations should be known by trial attorneys; for example, time-of-death determinations are only educated calculations as are determinations of the ages of injuries. Attorneys should be wary if the pathologist offers a precise time of death. The credibility of the pathologist is also at issue in a trial. Often a pathologist, particularly a novice, becomes too closely allied with the police and the prosecution, such that conclusions from the data are biased.