Latest Expert Witness News

CSI type graphics in the courtroom

Many jurors have higher expectations in the quantity and quality of exhibits presented at trial due to popular television crime scene dramas such as CSI.

This leaves some legal teams with the added burden of presenting highly visual and compelling materials to establish points and win cases. This is where forensic animation can help.

Forensic animation is a moving video representation of an incident scene or event used to convey a hypothesis or the findings of an investigation as supported by physical evidence, expert analysis, or other testimony. 

This can be used along with graphic simulations, which comprise of a moving video representation of an event based upon a computer program algorithm to predict the movements of persons, vehicles, or objects based upon a strict set of data inputs. This can be utilised in personal injury cases or cases where vehicles are involved to help verify the accuracy of an expert’s analysis.

Forensic animations can be utilized in court providing that the legal team lays the foundation and that the animation is not too graphic and is true to events recognised.

They can be best used as an exhibit to demonstrate complicated concepts described by expert witnesses during trial testimony. Forensic animations are more likely to be successfully accepted into the court record after all expert testimony and physical evidence has been submitted.

Forensic animations are not only useful to support analysis and testimony, they can also be used to demonstrate what did the scene look like before and after an event occurred, or what event should not have happened but did and vice versa.

Traditionally forensic animation has been limited to high-profile cases due to its expense but, as time and technology has progressed, the quality of a professional animation has increased and the expense has decreased. So we can expect to see more use of this highly visual and compelling medium in the courtroom maybe even on an iphone.

For more information please contact Golden Square Post Production www.goldensq.com

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