Opinion ID: 42576
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Forensic Expert Opinion

Text: 13 Garza argues that the district court abused its discretion in not allowing forensic document examiner, Linda James, to testify that the signatures of witness Kim Sanders on Garza's alleged confession and consent to search did not match known signatures of Sanders. At trial, Sanders testified that he witnessed Garza's confession and consent. The defense then called Linda James, a handwriting expert, to testify that Sanders' signatures on Garza's statements were forgeries. The prosecution objected and the district court allowed the parties to state their positions outside the hearing of the jury. 17 At that time, James was examined by the defense and the prosecution. She explained that her expert opinion was based on her examination of six photocopied documents, four of which were known to have been signed by Sanders, and two documents with alleged signatures of Sanders that were being questioned. The questioned documents included Garza's confession and consent to search. James concluded that the two questioned documents were signed by someone other than the signer of the other four documents. 14 The prosecution objected that James' testimony should be excluded because the defense did not follow the discovery rules by disclosing the expert and her opinion before trial. Defense counsel argued that the prosecution never requested such information. However, the district court rejected the defense's argument, finding that the pretrial order clearly provided for reciprocal discovery. This Circuit has held that a trial court's decision to exclude evidence as a means of enforcing a pretrial order `must not be disturbed' absent a clear abuse of discretion. 18 In exercising its discretion in considering the imposition of sanctions for discovery violations, a district court should consider the following factors: (1) the reasons why the disclosure was not made; (2) the amount of prejudice to the opposing party; (3) the feasibility of curing such prejudice with a continuance of the trial; and (4) any other relevant circumstances. 19 In fashioning any such sanction, the district court should impose only that sanction which is the least severe way to effect compliance with the court's discovery orders. 20 15 Defense counsel makes a lot out of the argument that they did not have to produce an expert report because Ms. James testified that she did not prepare a report until the day that she walked into the court to testify. However, it is really of no consequence whether exclusion of Ms. James' testimony was too harsh of a sanction for a pretrial order violation, if there even was a violation. This is because the district court also based its opinion on Federal Rule of Evidence 702. 21 16 Out of the hearing of the jury, James admitted that she did not know how many times the documents had been photocopied, but she testified that she believed the quality of the copies were clear enough for her to use them as the basis of her opinion. James also admitted that she requested original exemplars of Sanders' signature from defense counsel, but that originals were not provided. When questioned, James agreed that to look at the original signatures is the best practice. After considering this, the district court stated, I find that her testimony, based on the examination of copies, comparing them, copies, Xerox copies, without any knowledge about how often they had been copied, whether that's a second, third, fourth, fifth, or tenth copy that had been made, in other words, a copy of a copy, I find that her testimony would not be reliable under Rule 702. As a considered determination applying the correct legal standard, it cannot be said that the district court's ruling was an abuse of discretion. 17 Garza refers to cases that suggest that James's reliance on photocopies went to the weight of her opinion, rather than to its admissibility. However, as the district court points out, in this case, the expert was not even sure how many times the signatures had been photocopied. Furthermore, even if the district court was in error for excluding the expert testimony, such error was harmless and did not effect Garza's substantial rights. To offset any potential prejudice to the defense, the district court allowed the copies of the signatures to be admitted into evidence so that the jury could compare the signatures and draw their own conclusions. This Court has repeatedly held that juries are capable of comparing signatures to determine authenticity. 22 Therefore, Garza was able to impeach Sanders even without the expert testimony of Ms. James. 18