United States v. Starzecpyze

880 F. Supp. 1027 (S.D. NY 1995)

Facts

A Grand Jury charged Roberta Starzecpyzel (D) with conspiring to steal paintings, sculpture, silver, and jewelry from Ethel Brownstone, her aunt. D moved the court to exclude all expert testimony and other evidence relating to alleged forgeries of signatures. A Gus Lesnevick, a forensic document examiner (FDE) had concluded that the challenged signatures were not genuine. The casebook gives an excellent rendition of the expert testimony offered by both the Prosecution and the Defense. Then the court proceeds to analyze the Daubert factors to that evidence on whether FDE evidence meets the standard. The court found that it did not and then discussed the applicability of Daubert to nonscientific evidence.