Request Expert

Expert has been involved in forensic science since 1976. He has testified over 1000 as an expert in drug identification for the prosecution over 1000 times while with the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement Crime Laboratory. In addition, he was one of two people who opened the Jacksonville Regional Crime Laboratory, at which he was involved in all aspects of evidence handling, starting with evidence intake and internal chain of custody, storage and inventory, analysis, and return of evidence. While with FDLE, he trained law enforcement personnel on evidence packaging and presumptive drug testing. He was involved with training newly hired personnel in the Chemistry Sections of the Sanford and Tampa Regional Crime Laboratories. As an independent expert, he has testified over 300 times in blood and breath alcohol, drug analysis, reweighing, analytical chemistry, and sexual lubricants. He has testified in the State Courts of Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, and Federal Courts of Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas. He has also testified in Court Martials and Administrative hearings. He has testified in both Criminal and Civil cases. The Civil case testimony included such areas as the rate of melting ice cream and the drop rate of a dishwashing liquid in slip and fall cases. Administrative hearings involved urine drug screens and analysis and breath alcohol issues. He has also been qualified as an expert in the areas of chain of custody, the scientific basis of the alcohol testing program rules, and the interpretation of analytical data. He has presented a paper at the American Institute of Chemists on "The Chemist as an Expert Witness" and published a paper on "How an Expert Can Help on a Refusal Case" in an industry journal. He has recently been allowed to testify in Federal Court in areas of Synthetic Cannabinoids and the Federal Analogue Statute.

Expert has been involved with blood and breath alcohol analysis since 1986. He has testified as an expert witness in both State Courts (Florida, Georgia, and North Caroline) and Federal Courts (Florida) on blood and breath alcohol issues, including reanalyzes, Widmark calculations, the scientific basis of the blood and breath alcohol testing rules, review of case documentation and analyses, handling and storage problems, analytical problems, the S&W Breathalyzer, Intoximeter 3000, and Intoxilyzers 4000 and 8000, rule violations, chain of custody problems, interferences, retrograde extrapolations (why they should not have been done or calculations showing ranges at earlier times when they can be done), and the effects of absorption, elimination and peak phase on the breath alcohol values. He is well-versed in the new paradigm proposed by Hlastala and its impact on the theory of breath alcohol testing. He has published articles in "DWI Journal: Law and Science," "The Champion," and "DUI, DWI and OWI Cases after Melendez-Diax, 45th Annual Criminal Practice Institute, Nov. 2009. He is also on the "DWI Journal: Law and Science" editorial board. Expert has also taken Intoxilyzer 5000 and 8000 Breath Test Operators Certifying Courses offered by FDLE, Scientific and Medicolegal Issues of Alcohol and Drug Abuse given by the Space Coast Institute of Medical and Legal Education, the Intoxilyzer 5000 Operators Course given by American Legal Education, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Course (NHTSA approved) given by a leading authority. Expert has given CLE courses (approved in Florida and Ohio) on "Blood and Breath Alcohol: Theory and Practice." He has also written his own coursebook.

Expert has analyzed controlled substances since joining the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement in 1976. He has testified over 1000 times as an expert called by the prosecution while with FDLE and over 300 times by the defense while an independent consultant. Expert has published articles on drug analysis in the DEA publication "Micrograms" and "Florida Division of the International Association of Identification Newsletter." He also published an article on the analysis of Dimethylsulfoxide in the "Journal of Analytical Chemistry." He has presented papers at the Southern Association of Forensic Scientists and the American Chemical Society Symposium on Analytical Methods in Forensic Chemistry. Expert co-authored a U.S. Patent for a field test for Methaqualone. He has presented a course for CLE credit (Florida) on the analysis of controlled substances. He has taken the Formal Training Course in Drug Identification - FDLE Academy, Forensic Chemist Seminar - Drug Enforcement Administration, Chromatographic Methods in Forensic Sciences - Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy, and short courses including Mass Spectroscopy - Dupont, Troubleshooting Gas Chromatographs - Varian, High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Thin-Layer Chromatography - Whatman, Practical Liquid Chromatography - Hewlett-Packard and Practical Capillary Gas Chromatography - Hewlett-Packard, Recent Advances in Chromatography and Laboratory Automation - Perkin-Elmer, and Spectroscopic Solutions Seminar - Thermo Nicolet.

Expert has recently testified at several Federal Sentencing hearings in Indiana and Illinois as to the issue of whether Crack or Cocaine was identified by the Crime Laboratory and the definition of Crack.

Expert holds a B.S. degree from the University of Miami in Chemistry and a M.S. degree from Texas A & M University in Physical Chemistry with the thesis work in Infrared Spectroscopy. His thesis was on the molecular structure of trimethyl-antimony oxide using infrared and Raman spectroscopy. He has used infrared spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography, Electron impact and Chemical Ionization mass spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy in graduate school research and his career as a forensic chemist. Expert is well-versed in the theory and practice of infrared spectroscopy and its application to breath alcohol testing. He has given CLE (Florida and Ohio approved credit) in Blood and Breath Alcohol: Theory and Practice, in which he explains, among other issues, the use of infrared spectroscopy for breath alcohol testing.

Expert holds a B.S. degree from the University of Miami in Chemistry and a M.S. degree from Texas A & M University in Physical Chemistry with the thesis work in Infrared Spectroscopy. His thesis was on the molecular structure of trimethyl-antimony oxide using infrared and Raman spectroscopy. He has used infrared spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography, Electron impact and Chemical Ionization mass spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy in graduate school research and his career as a forensic chemist. Expert is well-versed in the theory and practice of infrared spectroscopy and its application to breath alcohol testing. He has given CLE (Florida and Ohio approved credit) in Blood and Breath Alcohol: Theory and Practice, in which he explains, among other issues, the use of infrared spectroscopy for breath alcohol testing. Expert has analyzed everything from a burnt remnant of a marijuana cigarette to Schedule 1 drugs, determined the drop rate of liquid detergent and melting rate of ice cream in slip and fall cases, determined the presence of a poison in various lots of reagents used by a medical test manufacturer to explain why the specifications for the product were not being made and then developed a test to determine which batches of reagent would produce satisfactory results, and developed a method to analyze and compare petrolatum based sexual lubricants on victims clothing with jars of product. Expert has testified as an expert in all these areas.

Several manufacturers have contacted Expert to solve problems with the production of their products. Using a new lot of reagents, one manufacturer found their specifications for a medical test reagent needed to be met. Expert found a chemical poison that slowed or stopped the reaction and developed an instrumental test to determine if new lots would result in products meeting the specifications. Another company needed a method for analytical testing of their products to give a reliable quantitation of one component. Considering the expense factor and the product's chemistry, Expert was able to present and demonstrate an acceptable QC testing method that achieved that goal. Another company presented a solvent contamination problem to Expert that needed to be understood. Expert was able to satisfy the needs by developing a head-space gas chromatographic analysis that allowed the detection of the contaminant, the ability to quantitate the contaminant, and the ability to meet specification concerns. Expert has the chemical and instrumental analysis understanding to solve many chemical problems arising from similar instances. In one case above, the solution involved the use of NMR. Another relied upon ultraviolet spectroscopy and gas chromatography. Other issues have been resolved by thin-layer chromatography or gas-chromatography mass spectroscopy. Another service performed by Expert was to evaluate and verify that the quality control method for lead contamination on component parts met the government standards. In this instance, Expert did this and improved the sampling process of components used in the product to represent the batch better.

Expert has run thousands of laboratory tests and experiments to determine the presence of controlled substances, the percent composition of mixtures containing controlled substances, the comparison of sexual lubricants on clothing to jars containing the same batch of substance, and blood and breath alcohol concentration. He has written reports documenting his findings. He has also been retained to review reports and test results and to offer opinions based on the analytical data provided. He has evaluated the analytical results, the limitation of analytical instrumentation, the accuracy and precision of the test results and instrumentation, and has designed experimental methods. He has testified as an expert concerning all these areas in Florida Courts.

An analysis of the defendant's urine showed the presence of the ethyl analog of Cocaine based on the FDLE analysis. A data review supported the defendant's explanation of unknowingly ingesting a beer given to him by one victim that had been spiked with cocaine at the victim's home. Expert testified to that issue, and the jury verdict of death was split enough to allow for appeals. A manufacturer of a medical test suddenly found that its reagent did not meet the clotting rate demanded by the specifications. Samples supplied from different lots, including those that had passed, showed the presence of an impurity. Blind testing showed that the impurity was a chemical poison that kept the reaction from occurring within specifications. Expert developed an instrumental method to determine which batches of reagents could be used to obtain reagents that met specifications. A civilian contacted Expert with the claim that he was being poisoned. A syringe with liquid was presented for analysis. An analysis showed that Malathion was present. When Expert met the person, the client could hardly form a sentence and showed other signs of poisoning. His doctor, given the analytical results, was able to treat the client, who recovered. The perpetrator of the poisoning was found to be a relative who is now committed to a mental institution. Expert conducted independent research on the analysis of sexual lubricants, resulting in a developed comparison method that could compare petrolatum-based sexual lubricants found on the victim's clothing to a unique batch of products. A rape case with no serological or physical evidence, except for an oily stain, was submitted to the Crime Laboratory just as the study had neared completion. With the prosecutor's permission, Expert analyzed the stain and favorably compared it to the contents of a batch of petrolatum-based lubricant (petroleum jelly) found in a container at the scene, which had the suspect's fingerprint. Based upon Expert's testimony, the suspect plead guilty and is confined to a mental institution. Expert has testified at several hearings in the Florida Alcohol Testing Program rules governing breath alcohol testing were challenged by the defense as being vague or based upon faulty science. Partly due to Expert's testimony, the Judges in several Florida Courts found the rules to be insufficient and ordered them to be rewritten.