Scientific Evidence, Right to Confrontation, Examined at Forensic Friday Seminar

Amidst a Massachusetts forensic laboratory scandal involving the alleged fabrication of tens of thousands of drug test results used to convict more than 1,100 inmates over a nine-year period, the Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law will explore the Constitutional confrontation clause in the context of a recent series of rulings impacting expert testimony.

Scientific Evidence and the Right to Confrontation, the second in the four-part Forensic Fridays series, will address criminal defendants’ rights to confront laboratory analysts in the wake of several U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the matter.

Panelists and presenters include:

• Leo Ciaramitaro, assistant district attorney, Westmoreland County
• Jay J. Finklestein, assistant federal public defender, Western District of Pennsylvania
• Dr. Fred Fochtman, former director, Allegheny County Coroner’s Office laboratory division
• Elliot Howsie, chief public defender, Allegheny County
• Laura S. Irwin, assistant U.S. attorney, Appellate Division, Western District of Pennsylvania
• The Hon. Jeffrey A. Manning, administrative judge, Criminal Division, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas
• James Kane Record, attorney and professor of criminal justice California University of Pennsylvania.

Scientific Evidence and the Right to Confrontation will be held on Friday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in the Africa Room. For more information, including cost and available continuing education credits, visit www.duq.edu/forensics, email wechtinstitute@duq.edu or call 412.396.1330.