The Role of the Expert Witness in a Court Trial (A Guide for the Expert Witness)

This is a pragmatic manual or guide for the expert witness, whether a physician, an engineer, a document examiner, an accident reconstructionist or anyone who would qualify as an expert under the Daubert standard. The guide covers an area of demonstrative evidencephotographs and diagramsnot normally discussed by other authors of books on experts, and yet is so important in providing clarity and understanding to the expert's testimony, aiding the trier of factjury or judgeto understand what the expert is trying to convey. The expert witness must be able to arouse and sustain the interest of jurors. One way of doing this is by employing the use of graphic visual evidence which can impress the jury far more dramatically and succinctly than verbal narrations. Oral testimony of an expert witness remains with a juror as long as his memory allows, but photographs or other visual evidence is before the jurors when it is first introduced in evidence, usually throughout the trial, and when the jurors are deliberating their verdict.