Defending Against Expert Witnesses in Ocean City DUIs

Expert witnesses play vital roles in both the prosecution’s and defense’s arguments. Both sides rely on the testimony of expert witnesses to strengthen or weaken their own or their opponents cases, respectively. An Ocean City DUI lawyer will be able to speak more specifically about expert witnesses on both sides during a consultation. Call today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Cross Examination of Prosecution’s Expert Witnesses

There are a couple of different ways that an attorney can challenge the government’s expert.  One would be by cross examining the expert and an experienced attorney is going to know what sort of questions to ask during cross examination. An experienced attorney also knows the questions that you don’t ask. An experienced attorney knows what the DREs examination should look like and what the reports should look like. If the DRE failed  to do something, that is an important point that an attorney can bring out in cross examination.

Call Conflicting Expert Witness

Aside from cross examination, the lawyer may want to call an expert of their own to contradict what the state’s expert said. Experts can be very expensive. It could end up costing the defendant a great deal of money if the attorney suggests calling an expert to refute the state’s expert, but sometimes, it’s absolutely necessary.

Another example of that is collision reconstruction. There are some people out there who consider themselves to be experts in collision reconstruction, but that  doesn’t necessarily make it so. They may have performed a reconstruction in a very poor manner, or missed some very crucial steps. If that’s the case, then the defense may want to call a much more reliable and accurate collision reconstruction expert to refute what the state’s witness said.

Expert Witnesses Defense May Call in Ocean City DUI Cases

The defense may be looking at what sort of experts are necessary to give the defense an advantage. Sometimes, that maybe experts in the medical field. There are certain diseases of the body that can look like a person is somehow under the influence of alcohol. For example, individuals who are diabetic, if they are having issues with the level of sugar in their system, they can start to experience symptoms or appear to be intoxicated when in fact, they are not. They are just having issues with their insulin levels and they will appear almost to be under the influence. It may be necessary to utilize a medical expert for that. It might be the defendant’s own medical doctor if they are being treated specifically for something like diabetes.

Another example of that is Parkinson’s. Individuals who are suffering with Parkinson’s disease can have serious issues with their own motor control skills. It may appear that they may look and act as someone who is intoxicated, but they’re not and again, it may require the defendant’s own doctor to testify as to the diagnosis and that the person had previously received that diagnosis prior to being stopped by the police officer.