LANDMARK CASES Flashcards
(573 cards)
Frye v. U.S. - year?
1923
Frye v. U.S. - court?
D.C. Court of Appeals
Frye v. U.S. - focus?
Admissibility of expert witness testimony
Frye v. U.S. - bottom line?
Methodology must have gained general acceptance in the scientific community
What is the Frye rule?
General acceptance in the scientific community
Which landmark case superseded Frye?
Daubert v. Merrell Dow
The defendant in this case was convicted of the murder of a physician. He appealed the decision based upon the exclusion of expert evidence. The expert planned to testify about the results of a systolic blood pressure deception detection test. Case?
Frye v. U.S.
Frye v. U.S. - Admission of expert evidence was objected to by the state. What did the expert plan to testify about what?
The results of a systolic blood pressure deception detection test
Frye v. U.S. - Admission of expert evidence was objected to by the state and was excluded by the trial judge.
Holding?
The judgment was affirmed because the systolic blood pressure deception test had not yet gained such standing and scientific recognition among authorities in the field. in which it belongs.
The general acceptance test is now only one of several considerations under what standard?
Daubert
The Frye test is still used in the District of Columbia and how many states?
16
What rigid test was at odds with the liberal thrust of the Federal Rules and their general approach of relaxing the traditional barriers to opinion testimony?
Frye test
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - year?
1993
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - court?
U.S. Supreme Court
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - focus?
Federal Rules of Evidence provide the standard for admissibility of experts
Daubert factors? (5)
1) General acceptance (Frye)
2) Has the technique been tested
3) Peer reviewed publication
4) Error rate
5) Existence of standards
Trial judge is the gatekeeper for admission of only valid and reliable expert witness testimony. Case?
Daubert v. Merrell Dow (1993)
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - known error rate. What % of surveyed judges understood what this is?
4%
Why did the federal District Court grant Merrell Dow’s request for summary judgment?
Based on a well credentialed expert’s affidavit stating that the extensive published literature had not shown the maternal use of Bendectin to be a risk factor for human birth defects.
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - Why did the District Court exclude the plaintiff’s expert evidence?
It did not meet the Frye standard. The experts based their conclusion that Bendectin can cause birth defects on animal studies, chemical structure analyses, and unpublished “reanalysis” of previously published human statistical studies.
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - The District Court exclude the plaintiff’s expert evidence because it did not meet the Frye standard. What was the holding of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals?
Affirmed the trial court’s decision.
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - The District Court exclude the plaintiff’s expert evidence because it did not meet the Frye standard. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision. What was the holding of the U.S. Supreme Court?
Held that the Federal Rules of Evidence, NOT Frye, provide the standard for admitting expert scientific evidence in a federal trial.
The Federal Rules of Evidence were originally adopted by Congress in what year?
1975
Daubert v. Merrell Dow - what is the appropriate means by which evidence based on valid principles may be challenged? (3)
1) Cross examination
2) Presentation of contrary evidence
3) Careful instruction on the burden of proof rather than wholesale exclusion