GREGORY CHANDLER - LITIGATION OF FORGERY ALLEGATIONS

I have been involved in litigation in which a party alleges forgery.  Having studied at the FBI crime laboratory, I am also familiar with handwriting analysis.  In researching a case, I came across United States v. Garcia, 448 F. 3d 294 (5th Cir. 2006).  In this case, the Fifth Circuit affirmed drug convictions.  The court found no abuse of discretion in the exclusion of testimony by the defendant's handwriting expert that signatures on the defendant's confession and consent to search form were forged. 

Although the handwriting expert's opinion was based on the examination of photocopied documents, the expert stated that she did not know how many times the documents had been photocopied and admitted that the best practice is to look at original signatures and not photocopies. 

GREGORY CHANDLER, Attorney at Law