DO MY EYES DECIEVE ME?

I had a case a while back where the client was charged with a series of night time burglaries of various retail establishments; mostly convenience stores and delicatessens. The police were desparate to close out a whole bunch of unsolved cases similar to the dozen or so our client was about to go down for. The guy had a history of burglaries but he also had a rocksolid alibi: He was in a locked-down rehab facility. The problem was that surveillance cameras in one of the jobs got a really good shot of a guy who (if it wasn't the client) could have been his twin brother.

The image above is a facsimilie of the photo that we got in discovery. No doubt about it; here was the client staring at the camera through the front window of the store. Note the reverse image of the lettering on the window glass. Time to think about a plea. Right?

Not quite. After staring at this image and several others in the file for months (fortunately the client was out on bail) we realized that what we believed to be window glass lettering turned out to be the date and time stamp on the security camera video footage. That date and time coincided with the date and time our guy was safely tucked in his bed at the shelter. It should have been obvious but no one could get over the resemblance of the burglar in the photo to our client.

Case Dismissed.

Myopic Vision

This is shot of the World Trade Center as it appeared when it was under construction on July 16, 1973.The original image is on a Kodachrome slide and was taken with a Honywell Pentax 35 mm camera with a shutter speed of 1/256 of a second and an apperture of f5.6

Is this useful data? Yes. Is this an accurate depiction of the Twin Towers as they appeared on the date indicated above? Again, Yes. Is it relevant to this blog? Probably not; but its not hurting anything to post it here in this column and it may prove useful someday.

Unfortunately, this is often the prevailing logic when preparing a client's defense includes crime scene or evidence photography. Sure, it may be nice to have a set of good quality, well documented photos in the file but its much better to go out in the field to create a series of images that either help prove a client's case or dispute some portion of the State's case. Sometimes the person ordering the photos loses "focus" and forgets to explain the purpose of these visual aids; much to the frustration of the itinerant photographer. A brief conference should resolve questions and solidify the puropse of a request of this nature.

Please feel free to copy or distribute my photo.

Tales of a Public Defender Investigator: NATIONAL DEFENDER INVESTIGATOR ASSOCIATION

Tales of a Public Defender Investigator: NATIONAL DEFENDER INVESTIGATOR ASSOCIATION

NATIONAL DEFENDER INVESTIGATOR ASSOCIATION

2011 NDIA National Conference Agenda
Huntington Beach, CA

April 28, 2011 (Thursday)

8:30 am - 9:00 am - Plenary Session
NDIA Opening Remarks
Local Defender and NDIA Conference Committee
9:00 am - 10:15 am - Plenary Session
Equal Justice Initiative
Daniel Olmos, Senior Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC

10:30 am - 11:45 pm - Concurrent Sessions
1. Gang Investigation and Developing a Defense
Ellen Barry, Attorney, Law Office of Ellen Barry, Los Angeles, CA
Terry Rearick, Private Investigator, Terry Rearick & Associates, Bermuda Dunes, CA
2. Cellular Telephone Forensics and Investigation - Part 1
Stephen Albers and Geoff Ross, Investigators, Public Defender Services, Washington DC
3. Defending Fraud Cases
Jeff Rutherford, Partner, Crowell & Moring, Los Angeles, CA
Jennifer Uyeba, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA
4. Sentencing Advocacy: “Acquisition and the Use of Demosntrative Evidence on Behalf of Your Client
Chester Keller, First Assistant, Federal Public Defender, Newark, NJ
Colleen Flanagan, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Newark, NJ

*1:15 pm - 2:30 pm - Concurrent Sessions
1. Investigating Law Enforcement and Prosecutorial Misconduct
Susan Leff, Attorney, Law Office of Susan Leff, San Francisco, CA
2. Video and Audio Forensics
Doug Carner, President, Forensic Protection, Inc., Van Nuys, CA
3. Working with Attorneys to Create an Effective Defense Team
Kevin Murphy, Chief Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Camden, NJ
4. Working with Experts
Michael Charlton, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Las Vegas, NV
Herbert Duzant, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Las Vegas, NV

**1:15 pm - 5:15 pm - Special Concurrent Session
5. CaseMap and Acrobat Pro - Hands-on Instruction
Bruce Johnson, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Anchorage, AK
Jan Kullberg, Paralegal Specialist, Federal Public Defender, Phoenix, AZ
Alex Roberts, National Litigation Support Paralegal, Office of Defender Services Training Branch, Oakland, CA
Kelly Scribner, Assistant National Litigation Support Administrator, Office of Defender Services Training Branch, Oakland, CA
Haji Shah, Paralegal Specialist, Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA
Mike Shewmake, Computer Systems Administrator, Federal Public Defender, Las Vegas, NV
Nora Steele, Paralegal Specialist, Federal Public Defender, Phoenix, AZ
James Strupp, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Portland, OR

2:45 pm - 4:00 pm - Concurrent Sessions
1. Clients with Mental Illness
Michael Charlton, Assistant Federal Public Defender, District of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
2. Journalistic Insights into Investigation
Maurice Possley, Investigator, Los Angeles, CA
3. Investigating Confidential Informants
Tim Foley, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender, Sacramento, CA
Eric Mason, Private Investigator, Mason Investigative Group, Emeryville, CA
4. Cellular Telephone Forensics and Investigation - Part 2
Stephen Albers and Geoff Ross, Investigators, Public Defender Services, Washington DC

4:15 pm - 5:15 pm
General Business Meeting
NDIA Board of Directors

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
President's Reception

April 29, 2011 (Friday)
8:30 am - 10:00 am - Plenary
Actual Innocence: Lessons Learned from People v. Bruce Lisker
Scott Glover and Matt Lait, Investigative Journalists, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA

10:15 am - 11:45 am - Concurrent Sessions
1. Best Practices and the Standard of Care in Investigations
Kevin Murphy, Chief Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Camden, NJ
Brendan Wells, Deputy Chief Investigator, Public Defender Services, Washington DC
Dean Applegate, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Oxford, MS
Sean Broderick, National Litigation Support Administrator, Office of Defender Services Training Branch, Oakland, CA
2. Multi-Defendant Cases
Josh Cohen, Attorney, Law Office of Josh Cohen, San Francisco, CA
3. GPS, New Technology and Issues of Search and Seizure
Stephen Marley, Attorney Advisor, Office of Defender Services Training Branch, Washington, DC
James Strupp, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Portland, OR
4. Investigating Outside of the Box: New Ideas for Better Client Representation
Betsy Anderson, Investigator, Federal Defenders of Montana, Helena, MT
Denise Arellano, Investigator, Federal Defender Services of Idaho, Boise, ID
Russell Curry, Investigator, Federal Defenders of Montana, Billings, MT

1:15 pm - 2:30 pm - Concurrent Sessions
1. Internet Sleuthing
Jonathan Lyon, Private Investigator, Chicago, IL
Victor Gomez, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Santa Ana, CA
2. Ethical Considerations of a Testifying Client
Eric Placke, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender, Greensboro, NC
3. Language, Culture, and Translation Considerations in Investigations
Gisela Garcia, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Trenton, NJ
Emma Hernandez, Paralegal, Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA
4. False Confessions
TBA

2:45 pm - 4:15 pm - Plenary
Social Networking: Myths and Realities
H. Dean Steward, Attorney at Law, San Clemente, CA
Sean Broderick, National Litigation Support Administrator, Office of Defender Services Training Branch, Oakland, CA
Kelly Scribner, Assistant National Litigation Support Administrator, Office of Defender Services Training Branch, Oakland, CA
Alex Roberts, National Litigation Support Paralegal, Office of Defender Services Training Branch, Oakland, CA

4:15 pm - 4:30 pm
NDIA Closing Remarks
NDIA Conference Co-Chairs