Often, a court simply won't accept as expert autograph witness a dealer. It's not a comment on the dealer's abilities, but the judge's rules for picking. Few judges are autograph experts themselves and have no idea which reseller is knowledgeable and which is not, so have to rely on strict formal guidelines. Some judges are suspect of the entire forensic handwriting area and won't accept anyone as an autograph expert. So a judge not picking someone as an expert sometimes is neither here nor there beyond the courtroom. If an Indianapolis Judge's rule is a toxicology expert witness has to be certified in Indiana, that doesn't mean toxocologists from Minnesota and Florida don't know what they are talking about, and the judge herself may say that's not what the rule implies.
Last edited by drc; 02-02-2010 at 11:37 AM.
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