Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
INACCURATE VIDEO REENACTMENT SHOWN IN MURDER CASE
January 29, 2009
Ryan Frederick may well be guilty of the murder of a police officer during a marijuana raid on his home. But I was appalled to read that a video reenactment of the night of the murder, shown in court, was inaccurate. I include a snippet about the examination of one of the police officers from The Virginian-Pilot below:
"Defense attorney James Broccoletti questioned how police could have made a video without duplicating exactly how they knocked on Frederick's door the night of the raid.
Frederick claims self-defense. He says he never heard police banging at his door or shouting and that he fired thinking someone was breaking in.
"The most critical and important moment of that night was incorrect?" Broccoletti asked Roberts.
Prosecutors, though, objected, and the judge would not allow him to answer. Broccoletti tried again.
"The knock and announce by you, the method of the knock and announce by you, the sequence of the knock and announce by you, was not correct?" he asked of the video.
"No, it was not," Roberts answered."
Virginia judges have long hesitated to allow this sort of evidence to be shown to jurors who tend to treat videos as gospel - and this story sure demonstrates why. Absolutely appalling that an inaccurate reenactment was made and shown in such an important case.
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