Forensic Evidence in Court: A Case Study Approach

The text will cover the use of forensic evidence at trial through expert testimony as well as court challenges to many types of forensic evidence. The case study is the 1973 murder of Penney Serra in New Haven, Connecticut, which remained a cold case until 1997, when Ed Grant was identified based on a fingerprint match and subsequently convicted. The text examines forensic evidence in the Grant trial, including fingerprint, DNA, blood spatter and eyewitness identification. It also examines trial strategy, handwriting testimony, polygraph, and exonerations based on newly-discovered DNA.