the.com/expert witness
a credentialed opinion for hire, sworn to tell the truth as billed by the hour.
means someone qualified by knowledge or experience whom a court allows to give opinion testimony, not just facts, to help a jury understand technical matters.
from english common law let witnesses testify only to what they directly observed until the 1782 case folkes v. chadd, where courts accepted an engineer's opinion on harbor silting, opening the door to specialists explaining things jurors could not judge alone.
daubert standard1993 ruling lets judges gatekeep junk science testimony
hired gunssame expert often testifies for whichever side pays first
fee rangetop experts charge 500 to 1000 dollars per hour
battle of expertsboth sides field contradicting experts on identical evidence
for instance
henry lee — forensic scientist in the o.j. simpson 1995 trial
michael baden — pathologist who testified in george floyd case, 2021
john nordberg — engineer whose 1782 opinion founded the doctrine itself