Brooklyn Bar Association discusses obtaining and getting video into evidence

February 19, 2016 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

From left: Camille Edelen and Det. Eric Grimes of Video Extraction, Inc., Carmen Jack Giordano, Hon. Evelyn J. Laporte and Amber Evans. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese

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The Brooklyn Bar Association (BBA) brought in an attorney specializing in video evidence and a retired NYPD detective for a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminar titled “Video Evidence: Legal Standards and Practical Considerations” on Remsen Street on Thursday night.

Attorney Carmen Jack Giordano led the CLE and provided the legal expertise on video evidence. Retired detective Eric Grimes, who was formerly a member of the Technical Assistance Response Unit in the NYPD, was on hand to provide answers to any technical questions.

“Carmen is a new member of the Technology Committee and he has been a terrific addition,” said Andrea Bonina, co-chair of the BBA’s Computer Technology Committee. “He suggested the program. We thought it was something very timely, very relevant that plays across all audiences because it’s important for criminal law and civil law.”

Aside from video evidence being a strong tool to help win a case, Giordano suggested that jurors have come to expect some kind of video during trials. “We live in a video culture,” he said.

The two main things that Giordano discussed during his seminar were how to physically obtain video evidence and how to get that video into evidence during a trial, whether that be a civil or criminal trial.

“The thing is that it makes you think about how you can fight your case better, because I don’t think everyone thinks about how to get police video, how to get public video and what needs to be done to authenticate that and get it into evidence,” Bonina said. “It’s the type of information that will make everyone a little sharper in how they investigate their cases.”

When it comes to obtaining the video, Giordano stressed that it is important for lawyers to send someone to the scene to canvas the area looking for cameras, whether they are government owned or owned by a private third party, and doing it quickly.

“As practitioners, you owe it to yourself to take advantage of this type of evidence that is out there all around the city, and if you’re going to do it, you have to move quickly,” Giordano said. “You have to send somebody to the scene. It helps to have someone who knows how to operate equipment and knows how to get into locations to get video.”

Giordano also suggested having whomever the attorney sent to get the video bring along a notice to preserve and disclose to serve it to a third party if they aren’t cooperating immediately.

Once the attorney has the video, the next step is getting it into evidence at trial, which requires the use of one of two methods — the pictorial witness method, similar to a normal photograph, or the silent witness methodology of admissibility.

“In a nutshell, what you need to show when you don’t have a witness there that can authenticate the video, you need to show the reliability of the technology,” said Giordano as he explained the silent witness methodology. “You need to show how you downloaded it, that the camera was working properly and show that it captured everything appropriately.”

The BBA’s next CLE will be a comprehensive update on New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules with Brooklyn Law School Professor Richard Farrell and will be co-sponsored by the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers. It will take place on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. at the bar association building.