EVIDENCE -- ADMISSIBILITY OF EXPERT TESTIMONY ON BALLISTICS.

The article discusses recent criminal decisions rendered by the U.S. courts. In a case on admissibility of expert testimony on ballistics, the defendant was indicted for first degree murder and upon a plea of not guilty was placed on trial and convicted of murder in the second degree. Testimony was admitted, over the objection of the defendant, of a witness who had made guns his "hobby'' and who identified the gun, admittedly used previously by defendant. The identification was made by comparison of the rifling of the revolver barrel with certain markings found on the fatal bullet. Held, on appeal, that the judgment be affirmed. A number of cases can now be cited in which there has been a decisive recognition of the admissibility of evidence based on the science of ballistics. A high degree of care in the determination of the qualifications of a proffered expert in this field is without doubt necessary. In certain cases, facts tending to identify the weapon used by the defendant have been testified to by so-called gun experts.