It's in Your DNA

At least, I think it is.  I leave for a conference today in central New York on DNA.  I'll tell you after that.

I was speaking with a newspaper reporter last week about expert testimony.  He said that's the hour or so jurors go to sleep during a trial.  All they want to hear is the ultimate conclusion.  If it's a ballistics expert, they want to hear the gun worked.  DNA?  They want to hear whether the defendant's DNA was on the victim.  Medical Examiner?  How the person died.  Jurors can do without all the scientific info, he said. 

There are so many technical steps that create the expert's conclusion.  I usually don't understand it all.  The jurors understand even less.  But, attorneys feel it necessary to draw out excruciating minutiae.  Maybe boring, drawn out testimony is in our nature?

As for the conference, some are better than others.  I always enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones.  I hope this conference shows us how to transform the most boring part of trial to the most exciting.

See you all Wednesday with a report.