Dueling experts in the Zimmerman case

[Quantum Windbag]

There was a Frye hearing in the Zimmerman case this weekend, and legal geeks got a good look at the prosecution case on voice analysis. Unsurprisingly, the prosecution is inventing science out of thin air, and will likely never introduce the evidence. The only reason I can see to even try to get it in is to give them political cover if they lose.

I think it might backfire on them though because the judge just might let it in, even though he is not supposed to unless it is generally accepted as reliable in the relevant scientific community. Voice analysis on screams doesn't even come close.

The state has two experts on their side.

State Expert #1, Tom Owens: A one-man audio forensics operation whose highest academic degree is a BA in History, who has no formal academic training in speech recognition or speaker identification, whose standards for analysis are self-written and in any case subject to self-violation in order to ensure a “finding”, who uses as his primary speech analysis tool a computerized “biometric” system in which he has a substantial financial stake, and which in any case he has used for less than two years and tested about as an expert witness only once before.
State Expert #2, Dr. Alan Reich, PhD: A long-retired college professor with an avocational interest in speech recognition and identification who manages to hear words and phrases in audio recordings that cannot be heard by world-leading experts in the field, much less by layman.

The defense brought in some interesting experts to counter the state testimony.

Defense Expert #1, Dr. Hirotaka Nakasone, PhD: A senior scientist with a 17-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, currently the Head of the Bureau’s Voice Recognition Program, and the Head of the international working group establishing the first formal scientific standards for speech recognition and speaker identification.
Defense Expert #2, Dr. J.P. (Peter) French, PhD: Dr. French earned his PhD in the analyses of recorded conversations, he is the Director of J.P. French Associates, the United Kingdom’s longest established independent forensic laboratory specializing in the analysis of speech, audio, and language with 6 full-time scientific staff, and a Professor in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York.
Defense Expert #3, Dr. George Doddington, PhD: Dr. Doddington conducted his doctoral thesis on speaker recognition, and since 1970 he has been leading the development and evaluation of speech recognition and speaker identification technologies and methodologies at a wide variety of top-level institutions, including Texas Instruments, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and currently at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). Interestingly, he was deeply involved in the development of the voice recognition technology used in the F-16 fighter aircraft.

The head of the FBI's voice recognition program, the head of the UK's largest voice forensics lab, and the man who developed the voice recognition system in the fF-16 all are testifying against the states claim that the screaming voice belongs to Trayvon Martin.

In fact, they actually say that the idea that you can compare a normal voice to a screaming voice is stupidly ridiculous and absurd.

There is a lot more at the link.

» Zimmerman Case: Experts Call State?s Scream Claims ?Absurd? ?Ridiculous? and ?Imaginary Stuff? - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion