Can a Forensic Witness Be Wrong?
If you’ve ever watched any crime TV shows, you know that any expert can be wrong. Any witness can be wrong. If they believe the facts as presented to them, it’s only natural that they could make an error.
What’s different from the tv shows is that forensic experts don’t lie on the stand. I know I’ve never intentionally lied on the stand.
No expert witness I know intentionally goes there and says, “Hey, I found this evidence. I found this glove, and I know that you know OJ Simpson did it.”
A bad expert witness might accidentally jump to conclusions about the case when they share their findings- but expert witnesses are aware that they need to stay in their specific lane in both their investigation and the court room.
What is the role of an expert witness in a court case or trial?
Expert witnesses generally take evidence, they take information, and then they testify to the tests they run in forensics.
If you hire a forensic handwriting expert or forensic handwriting expert witness, you’re hiring someone to do an investigation on a case: an investigation on handwriting, paper, paper holes, staples, and how old the paper was.
If facts come to the surface that would indicate this entire document is fraudulent or this entire document is completely legitimate, that expert testifies to that.
Yes, they can be wrong; but normally they’re wrong not because they’re bad people or have poor ethics. They’re wrong because they’re only seeing a certain amount of evidence.
Think about a detective on one of the crime procedurals you’ve seen. We’ve all seen the episode where the hero cop becomes obsessed with their case against a suspect.
They know in their heart they got the bad guy, and he needs to go to jail.
And then years later, the case comes back to haunt him. DNA evidence says that wasn’t the guy.
It doesn’t mean the cop character on this show was inherently bad, he was just wrong.
If you get into a case and an attorney or a lawyer on the other side, or even an expert witness, thinks that you forged a signature when you did not, it just means that they have evidence that they’re not seeing or choosing not to see.
That’s why you have the American court system the way it is. If an expert or lawyer has a guilty opinion based on the evidence, you have an opportunity to hire your own expert and have them testify.
They can have a point of view or notice something that contradicts the opinion of the opposition.
If the opposition is ethical and sees the part of the evidence that they had missed, they will change their opinion to agree with the defense.
Experts are professionals, but they’re also humans. They can be wrong.
If you’re in a legal case where there’s another opposing forensic document examiner who has a different opinion from the truth that you believe, you must hire an equivalent-level expert to read that report and find flaws in the report.
They may come to you and say there are no flaws, even if that’s not what you want to hear. But it’s important to know that the expert is probably correct.
Usually, clients are biased towards the narrative they want to believe in a case. But experts have no dog in the fight. They are independent contractors who are going to do their best to come to as accurate a conclusion as possible.
After all, they are staking their reputation every time they take on a case. Lying on purpose would destroy their livelihood. Being wrong or missing evidence, while human, is also detrimental to their reputations.
So if an expert is wrong, it’s probably going to be on accident- because we try really, really hard to always be right.
So, can a handwriting expert be wrong or an expert witness be wrong? Of course, because we’re only human. We’re subject to bias. We’re subject to false evidence. We’re subject to people lying to us. So, if you have a good forensic expert, they won’t be wrong because they’ll get the facts, and they’ll testify on the facts. My name is Bart Baggett. I can help you if you have any legal case troubles involving handwriting and/or documents. Reach out to one of our team members at handwritingexperts.com.
We have offices all over the United States and take cases worldwide to help solve forensic document examination problems.
Bart Baggett
The Nation’s Leading Forensic Handwriting Expert
CEO of Handwriting Experts Inc.
Forensic Document Examiner • Expert Witness • Legal Consultant
“We solve million dollar forgery cases.”
Telephone: 1-800-980-9030
YouTube: @thehandwritingexpert
LinkedIn: bartbaggett
Facebook: bartbaggett
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FAQ SECTION
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Q1: Can a forensic expert witness be wrong?
A1: Yes. Expert witnesses are human and can make errors — typically because they are working with limited or incomplete evidence, not because of dishonesty or poor ethics.
Q2: Why might a forensic handwriting expert reach an incorrect conclusion?
A2: A forensic handwriting expert may reach an incorrect conclusion because they are only seeing a portion of the available evidence, or because evidence was misrepresented to them — not due to intentional deception.
Q3: What should I do if an opposing forensic document examiner disagrees with my position?
A3: You should hire an equivalent-level expert to review the opposing report, identify any flaws, and provide an independent opinion based on the full body of evidence available.
Q4: Do forensic expert witnesses have a personal stake in case outcomes?
A4: No. Expert witnesses are independent contractors with no personal interest in a case’s outcome. Their professional reputation depends on accuracy, which motivates them to reach the most truthful conclusion possible.
