Q: Criminal defense question
If a knife was alligated as a weapon in an assault can defense require forensic and expert testimony for the state to support its claim to a felonious assault on defendant
A:
The defense can’t require any testimony from the state. But the law requires the state to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Which means the state must prove the defendant knowingly caused serious physical injury to the victim. So they’re going to put on some testimony. None of those elements necessarily require an expert or forensic tech the way say DNA matching does. If seven people from a party testify the defendant, drunk, attacked the victim stabbing him in the face with a knife because the victim was hitting on his girlfriend and the victim testified he was stabbed in the eye leaving him blind in one eye, the jury is going to convict in about 2 minutes. No expert or forensics needed.
The most common defense are (1) acting in self defense, (2) injury not “serious” (that term has a legal definition), and (3) not done knowingly (man having seizure kicks some in the face breaking their nose and jaw, for example).
The defense could put on its own expert testimony concerning seriousness of injures, or other factors.
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