Opinion ID: 887195
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Blanco's Reasoning

Text: ¶ 36 Cheryl argues the District Court erred in refusing to continue the trial because the State had not provided Blanco's subjective judgments upon which he relied to conclude Cheryl wrote the documents. She cites § 46-15-322(1)(c), MCA (2001), for the proposition that the State must produce the results of physical examinations, scientific tests, experiments, or comparisons.... Although the State provided Cheryl with Blanco's five reports in which he related his conclusions, Cheryl claims that Blanco did not reveal his results. ¶ 37 During his deposition, Blanco made some comparisons for the benefit of the attorneys. He compared Cheryl's known writings to the unknown writings for similarities. He showed them how he compared Cheryl's voluntary statement to the Helena Police Department with the LYkES letter. For example, the writings both had distinctive k's. Further, Blanco provided almost twenty documents on which he had made notations next to specific characters. The notations indicated that those characters had similarities with characters from other documents. ¶ 38 In January 2002, shortly after the deposition, the prosecution provided Blanco's eighteen-page affidavit in which he reiterated many of his deposition statements and reorganized many of those statements into a clear outline to show his methods. During trial, he testified in more detail. ¶ 39 Experts should explain their reasoning, so the opposing party can prepare for trial. See §§ 46-15-322(1)(c) and 323(3) to (5), MCA (2001). With that information, the opposing party can attack the expert's reasoning as defective instead of merely attacking his conclusions as defective. At his deposition, Blanco provided fourteen of the documents of unknown origin on which he had made notations next to specific characters indicating those characters had similarities with characters from other documents that Cheryl had written. From the volume of similarities, he concluded that Cheryl had written the documents of unknown authorship. This explanation was sufficient for Cheryl's experts to understand Blanco's reasoning and methodology. ¶ 40 Cheryl also asserts that the District Court erred by denying a continuance so her handwriting expert, Lloyd Cunningham, could recover from an illness so he could testify in person rather than through video depositions. Cheryl did nothing more in her brief than raise the argument. She fails to develop the argument or cite any authority. Accordingly, we decline to address it. Rule 23(a)(4), M.R.App.P.; In re Marriage of Hodge, ¶ 10.