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Perspective

Apr. 12, 2013

Courts fumble when experts change their minds

Ensuring consistency in expert opinion by simply deferring to whichever opinion was offered first fails to realize that science, and hence scientific opinion, is not immutable. By Mark Page


By Mark Page


On Dec. 3, 2012, the California Supreme Court denied a request for habeas relief in the case of William Richards, who in 1997 was found guilty of the murder of his wife. In re William Richards, S189275 (filed Dec. 3, 2012). It had taken no fewer than four trials to secure this conviction. Two proceeding trials had resulted in hung juries; a third was aborted after the trial judge recused himself. The fourth trial, finishing in 1997, introduce...

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