The testimony was to take place on Thursday in Brownsville, TX, a town in the path of approaching Tropical Storm Frances. We flew from Memphis, TN, to Brownsville on a very turbulent flight Wednesday evening and settled in. The next morning as I got dressed for court, I decided to put my sneakers and socks on because it was still pouring rain and the news said the storm was on its way. We arrived at the prosecutor's office to be greeted by good and bad news. Good news, I probably wouldn't have to testify until tomorrow - a reprieve!! But, the bad news, our evidence technician's son had been in a bad car accident and she needed to get back to Memphis right away. Since she was leaving early, our evidence technician had to testify right away. So we (prosecutors, case agent, the evidence technician, myself and my training officer) all walked to the courthouse. I had thought I was only going for moral support, but when we arrived the judge decided to swear in all new witnesses. This would have been fine except - I still had my sneakers and socks on with my suit! So I was sworn in for the first time ever in front of judge, jury, defense and prosecutors in my double breasted navy blue suit and old sneakers. I think my training officer was more embarrassed than I was, but I learned my first lesson - never go any where near the courthouse with any thing less that full court attire!

After this minor fiasco which quickly spread around the prosecutors office (the security guards were still talking about it five days later), I went back and had a very good pre-trial conference with the prosecutor. Here, I was able to put to use the training I had received. I asked questions, clarified exactly how the testimony and evidence was to be presented, discussed the layout of the courtroom, clarified the best way to position the charts, etc. In effect, trying to do all that I could to assure that the prosecutor and I were going to present my testimony in the most efficient, direct and informative manner. We also discussed possible defense questions and how to best counter those on redirect. I then spent the next few hours practicing my presentation and testimony, thinking I had another night before I had to get really nervous. It was during this time that I realized I was actually going to have to testify. In the past year I had had so many close calls involving defendants pleading, stipulating or fleeing the country before I actually got into the courtroom, that part of me believed something would happen here as well. Around 3:30 p.m. I went to the restroom and as I walked back to the office a secretary said, "Hurry up you're wanted in court." All of a sudden my stomach dropped to the floor and my mouth went completely dry, I was next.

The judge was concerned about the approaching storm and wanted to get the expert testimony finished before the storm arrived. I have never been so terrified or nervous about anything in my life. My training officer offering support and last minute words of advice only served to make things worse and nearly brought me to tears. I entered the courtroom, made it to the witness chair without tripping and began. Everything went very smoothly - lesson number two - nothing can replace a good one on one pretrial conference. I was embarrassed at one point when I had to recognize the evidence I had examined. This case involved a couple hundred exhibits that were poorly organized in two loose-leaf binders. To recognize my exhibit designations I had to remove the exhibits from the page protectors, a very time consuming process and embarrassing when it is after 4:00 p.m., the tropical storm is on the way and everyone in the courtroom is waiting for YOU to finish. Lesson number three - always examine how the exhibits will be presented to you in court during the pretrial.

Suddenly, while I was using my court charts (all ten!) to demonstrate my findings I realized I was not so terrified anymore. I was still nervous and wary that things could go wrong, but I was also enjoying myself. It was fun to be in front of the jury showing them what I had observed in the evidence and how I had reached my conclusions. It was fun to be the expert and talk about my profession. It was then that I realized I had made the right career choice. I had always laughed when my supervisors had said, "Just have fun with it," but suddenly that didn't seem like such a bad idea.

At about 5:30 p.m., the judge decided to stop court due to the late hour and approaching storm. My direct testimony was almost complete but cross-examination had not yet started. The judge then canceled court for the following day (Friday) due to the weather, and set court to start again on Monday. I now had three days to spend in Brownsville with a tropical storm approaching, clothes for two days and my testimony half-finished. Luckily the storm did not hit. I found a laundromat and had three days to review possible cross-examination questions.

Early Monday I was back on the stand. I finished my direct testimony and then cross-examination began. The defense attacked many of the expected areas including my inexperience and the subjective nature of the findings. He tried to compel me to misstate my findings and to say that my training officer told me what to testify. Thanks to my training and preparation I was able to answer confidently, bring his hypothetical questions back to the evidence and restate my findings clearly. When I was finished, the prosecutors felt I had done a good job and were happy with my testimony.

Overall, I was happy with how my first testimony had gone. I thought that I had managed to incorporate much of what I had learned about demeanor, eye contact, how to listen to and answer questions, and how to work with attorneys and evidence. I did of course wake up very early for the next few days thinking, "Why did I say that?!" I learned some valuable lessons about all of the small things that are incidental to the actual testimony. But most important I learned that that no matter how nervous or terrified I am about testifying, I will be able to do it because it is an important part of what I love to do.

Copyright © 1999 Young Forensic Scientists Forum / American Academy of Forensic Sciences