United States v. Glynn - 578 F. Supp. 2d 567 (S.D.N.Y. 2008)

Rule:

Ballistics lacks the rigor of science and, whatever else it might be, its methodology is too subjective to permit opinions to be stated to "a reasonable degree of ballistic certainty."

Facts:

Defendant Chaz Glynn is charged with murder in aid of racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(1)-(2), murder in connection with drug trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(e)(1)(A) and murder through use of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(j). The charges were initially tried before a jury in June, but, after the jury announced that it was hopelessly deadlocked, the Court, at defendant's request, granted a mistrial and set the case down for a retrial. Before the court was the issue of the limitation the court placed on the testimony of the Government's ballistics expert at the first trial.

Issue:

Was the limitation placed on the testimony of the Government's ballistics expert at the first trial proper?

Answer:

Yes

Conclusion:

Ballistics opinions were significantly subjective, and ballistics examination not only lacked the rigor of science but suffered from greater uncertainty than many other kinds of forensic evidence. Yet its methodology had garnered sufficient empirical support as to warrant its admissibility. To be admissible, evidence (expert or otherwise) did not need to meet any exalted level of certainty. The problem was how to admit it into evidence without giving the jury the impression that it had greater reliability than its imperfect methodology permitted. Therefore, the court reaffirmed the limitation it placed on the testimony of the Government's ballistics expert at the first trial; the ballistics examiner would be permitted to testify only that a firearms match was "more likely than not," thereby satisfying Fed. R. Evid. 401 without overstating the capacity of the methodology to ascertain matches. However, the court determined that it would no longer permit the expert to add the qualifier "at least," as that served only to add uncertainty.