More Federal Courtspeak
October 31, 2005
Criminal defense attorneys should not double-check the prosecution's scientific evidence, nor should judges provide poor people with experts to do the same even in cases where, as here, it's likely that an innocent man was convicted because of faulty scientific evidence. Here is the translated text:
[T]here is reason for concern that... defense attorneys will read today's opinion as embracing ... a presumption that they must spend precious time and money on constitutionally required double checks of most prosecution science experts .... So too is there reason to fear that trial judges will read this opinion as constraining their discretion in deciding, in the case of indigent defendants, whether and when to expend limited public funds on court-appointed defense experts for purposes of double-checking the prosecution.