Completion of A Perfect Circle: Expert Witness

Completion of A Perfect Circle: Expert Witness

1)    Legal Standing of Digital Forensic Analyst

§  Admittance of expert evidence based on the Criminal Procedure Code.

Pros: analyst does not need to provide detail credentials in court as the organization has been gazetted.

Cons: the defence counsel will request for time to understand the report and prepare for cross examination.

§  Acceptance of expert opinion under the Section 5 of the Malaysia Evidence Act 1950

Pros: the testimony and analysis on the digital evidence will be accepted by court if the analyst credibility is established.

Cons: The analyst must justify credentials through declaration of qualifications, background and experiences to assure the integrity of the findings and analysis made.

2)    In Court

Various types of presentation approach to illustrate the findings:

-       Demonstration

-       Animation

-       Slide

-       Verbal/ Written report

a.    Demonstration

Pros: will provide better understanding in court

Cons: In uncontrolled environment such as court, anything can happen.

b.    Animation

Pros: will provide visual illustration and it is suitable for complicated case

Cons: animation cost is expensive

c.     Slide

Pros: will provide some form of visual reference in court where defence counsel may find it hard to digest the information for the cross-examination session.

Cons: must have good presentation strategy to ensure the message understood.

d.    Verbal

Pros: defence counsel may not have any reference for the cross-examination session and it also provide high confidence/credits to the analyst

Cons: focus and avoid mistakes but the analyst need to memorize a lot of details and to ensure accuracy.