Forensic Audio Video Authentication Expert Witness

Professional Positions

1996-Present Private consultant, examiner, researcher, and founder of the forensic, audio/video/image consulting company. Conducts forensic examinations of audio, video and still image media, both analog and digital, to authenticate recordings, improve intelligibility, identify/classify voice and non-voice signals, and compare voice samples; analyzes digital images to authenticate, enhance quality and review metadata information; conducts measurements of objects/individuals in images; provides on-site evaluations of acoustical sounds and environments; prepares transcriptions; presents expert testimony and assists attorneys in preparing for cross-examination of opposing experts and lay witnesses; evaluates appropriate recording and analysis equipment; provides forensic training in audio/video analysis; conducts research regarding forensic applications; and directs the forensic work of other consultants.

1974-1995 Supervisory Special Agent, Engineering Section, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Washington, D.C., Newington, VA, and Quantico, VA. Conducted examinations of audio and video recordings, both analog and digital, produced or collected by Federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement and judicial agencies.  These forensic analyses included authentication of recordings, intelligibility enhancement, voice comparisons, identification/classification of voice and non-voice signals, and other related examinations.  Additional duties included analyses of room acoustics; on-site evaluations of sound pressure levels, gunshot events, and other sounds of interest; testing of audio tapes, tape recorders, laboratory analysis equipment; the presentation of expert testimony in criminal, civil, and administrative matters; training of FBI and other law enforcement personnel in forensic audio analysis; and conducting research.  At retirement, was the manager and senior audio examiner of the FBI’s Audio/Video Signal Processing program.

1970-1974 Special Agent, FBI.  Investigative responsibilities in the Atlanta and Detroit Divisions involving bank robberies, prison escapes, terrorism, and other violations of Federal law.  Also the technical coordinator of the photographic laboratory in the Detroit FBI Division.

Formal Education

• Bachelor of Science degree, University of Maryland, majors of Physics and Mathematics.
• Certificate, DeVry Institute of Technology (now called DeVry University), electronics curriculum on the theory and circuitry design of audio and video components, including tape recorders, radios, and stereo equipment, with an emphasis on televisions and the associated video signal.
• Master’s degree, George Washington University, major of Forensic Science.
• Additional graduate level courses at George Mason University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Colorado and University of Utah.

Work Experience

Forensic Digital Analog Tape Audio Video Still Images Authentication Expert Witness conducted examinations on over 19,000 separate audio and video recordings, and separate images, in over 5,900 criminal, civil, and administrative matters, including over 3000 authenticity analyses, the enhancement of over 9600 recordings and still images, over 6300 signal analysis determinations, and over 2100 voice comparisons/examinations.  Submissions have been received from clients in private and governmental organizations from all 50 states within the United States of America, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands (both St. Croix and St. Thomas), Argentina, Australia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador, Ecuador, England, Eritrea, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

• Has instructed personnel in the FBI, other Federal agencies, state, local, and foreign law enforcement departments, and private consultants in forensic analysis procedures.
• On hundreds of occasions has lectured and presented papers before scientific, forensic and legal organizations regarding forensic examinations.
• Peer-reviews scientific/technical articles, presentations, books, and doctoral theses in the audio/video signal processing fields.
• Affiliate/Associate of the Audio Forensics Group, Organization of Scientific Area Committees, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce (2015).
• Member of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on “The 18½-Minute Erased Portion of Nixon White House Tape 342,” Advisory Committee on Preservation, National Archives and Records Administration (2000).
• While chairperson of the Voice Identification and Acoustical Analysis Subcommittee, of the International Association for Identification, was responsible for writing and having approved the first comprehensive standards on spectrographic voice identification, outside the FBI (effective January 1, 1992).
• FBI’s project manager to the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, for their evaluation of spectrographic voice identification, titled “On the Theory and Practice of Voice Identification” (1979).
• Assisted the members of the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Ballistics Acoustics, in the examination of the acoustic information in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (late 1970s).

Clients, since establishing the private consulting company, have included the U.S. Department of Justice; Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Congress; Office of Independent Counsel, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Security and Exchange Commission; U.S. Department of Defense; U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Customs Service; Federal Trade Commission; United Nations Criminal Tribunal; National Academy of Sciences; U.S. Agency for International Development; district attorney’s offices; public defender’s offices; police departments; prosecuting attorney’s offices; law school legal clinics; ombudsmen; sheriff’s departments; state attorney general’s offices; bar associations; city & county attorney’s offices; private investigators; universities/colleges; the news media; private law firms; insurance companies; major corporations; utilities; labor unions; magazine editors; and small businesses.

 

Work Experience (cont.)

Forensic Digital Analog Tape Audio Video Still Images Authentication Expert Witness conducted forensic examinations in numerous significant investigations, including: the authenticity analysis of the Linda Tripp telephone recordings involving the investigation of President William J. Clinton; the authenticity analysis of the telephone recordings concerning Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros; the enhancement examination of President Richard M. Nixon’s White House recordings, including the “Watergate tapes”; the gunshot analyses in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the attempted assassination of Ronald W. Reagan; the authenticity and enhancement analyses of the undercover informant’s recordings in the Archer Daniels Midland antitrust cases; the video surveillance analyses in the murder of Odin Lloyd, in which former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez was convicted; the authenticity and enhancement examinations in the John Gotti and other high-profile organized crime cases; the authenticity determination and identification of gunshot sounds on audio and video tapes involved in the burning of the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas; the authenticity and voice comparison analyses of audio recordings involved in three criminal trials before the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for the former Republic of Yugoslavia; the intelligibility determination and transcript preparation of U.S. government recordings in the Sabrina Aisenberg kidnapping investigation; the video authenticity analyses involved in the investigation by the U.S. Congress of presidential campaign financing in the Clinton administration; the authenticity examination of digital audio recordings from the office of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma; the authenticity examination of the FBI’s undercover analog and digital recordings in the $2.7 billion fraud prosecution of Richard M. Scrushy, former CEO of HealthSouth Corporation; the analysis of the gunshots fired by members of the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, the Communist Workers Party, and the Socialist Workers Party during a “Death to the Klan” demonstration in Greensboro, NC; the authenticity analysis of audio microcassette recordings in the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper vs. The Liberal Party of Canada civil case; the authenticity analysis of 35 digital audio recordings in the conspiracy and interception of wire communications prosecution in the U.S. vs. Anthony Pellicano and Terry Christensen case; the gunshot examinations in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams by the Cleveland Police Department, in which over 130 shots were fired; the authenticity and enhancement of air traffic control recordings involved in the destruction of Korean Airlines Flight 007 by a Russian missile; many espionage cases and other major airplane crashes since the late 1970s; the audio and image enhancement analyses plus transcription preparation in the Duke University Lacrosse Team case; the signal analysis examination of the engine, rotor and electrical system sounds of the Sikorsky helicopter crash near Weaverville, CA resulting in the death of seven firefighters, the pilot and the safety officer.

Specialized Short Courses Attended (partial listing)

• Acoustics and Electroacoustic Measurement, presented by Brüel & Kjær, in Marietta, GA
• Applications of Modern Image Processing Systems, presented by The International Society for Optical Engineering, Bellingham, WA
• Cellular Telephone System, presented by Douglas A. Kerr, in Dallas, TX
• Computer Science Technology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
• Digital Signal Analysis for Applications in Sound and Vibration, presented by Pope Engineering Company and Brüel & Kjær, in Norcross, GA
• Electroacoustic Measurements on Telephones, presented by Brüel & Kjær, in Marietta, GA
• Essentials of Industrial Security Management, presented by the Army Institute for Professional Development, Fort Eustis, VA
• Fast Fourier Analysis, presented by Spectral Dynamics, in San Diego, CA
• FBI Laboratory Quality Assurance Training on Evidence Submission, Examination, and Return, presented by the FBI Laboratory Division, Quantico, VA
• File Systems Revealed, presented by X-Ways Software Technology AG, in Seattle, WA
• Forensic Authentication of Digital Audio, presented by the National Center for Media Forensics, University of Colorado, Denver, CO
• Forensic Authentication of Digital Images, presented by the National Center for Media Forensics, University of Colorado, Denver, CO
• Image and Video Processing Using MATLAB, presented by MathWorks, in Vienna, VA
• Image Processing and Analysis, presented by The International Society for Optical Engineering, Bellingham, WA
• Mastering Analog Video Technology, presented by The Sony Video Institute, in San Jose, CA
• Mastering Digital Video Technology, presented by the Sony Training Institute, in San Jose, CA
• Mastering Telecommunications Fundamentals, presented by Two Rivers Technologies, in Washington, D.C.
• Presenting Data and Information, presented by Edward R. Tufte, in Arlington, VA
• Professional Photography, presented by New York Institute of Photography, New York, NY
• Selected Topics in Acoustics, presented by George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
• Signal and Image Processing and Analysis for Scientists and Engineers, presented by Applied Technology Institute, Laurel, MD
• Sonic Boom: Prediction and Effects, presented by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in Tallahassee, FL
• Speech Enhancement, presented by The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
• Speech Spectrogram Reading: An Acoustic Study of English Words and Sentences, presented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, MA
• Video Analyst System Training, presented by Intergraph, Huntsville, AL
• Video Capture, Enhancement and Analysis, presented by The Institute for Forensic Imaging     (in association with Indiana University and Purdue University), Indianapolis, IN
• Voice Identification, presented by Voice Identification, Inc., in Manville, NJ
• X-Ways Forensics, presented by X-ways Software Technology AG, in Seattle, WA

Professional Society Memberships

• Acoustical Society of America – member.  Member of the Subcommittee on Forensic Acoustics.
• Audio Engineering Society – member. Member of the Technical Committee on Audio Forensics.  Awarded the 33rd “2015 Distinguished Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecturer” at the 139th Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York City, with a presentation entitled “Acoustic Forensic Gunshot Analysis — The Kennedy Assassination and Beyond.”
• International Association for Identification – Distinguished and Life Active member.  Member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Forensic Identification.  Former chairperson of both the Voice Identification and the Acoustical Analysis Subcommittee plus the Voice Identification Certification Board; former board member of the Forensic Video Analysis Certification Study Committee.
• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) – member.  Member of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.
• National Technical Investigators Association – member.
• Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – member.
• Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers – member.
• SPIE [formerly known as The International Society for Optical Engineering] – former member (2000-2010).

Testimony

Forensic Digital Analog Tape Audio Video Still Images Authentication Expert Witness testified as an expert in the fields of audio/video/image analyses in judicial proceedings, including trials, hearings, and depositions on 400 occasions in: The Netherlands, Singapore, Turks and Caicos Islands, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

Seminars

Have attended numerous seminars, conventions, conferences, and workshops of organizations including the Acoustical Society of America, Audio Engineering Society, DSP Expo, International Association for Identification, International Society for Optical Engineering, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, International Speech Communication Association, National Association of Broadcasting, and National Technical Investigators Association.

Miscellaneous

• Full-field, TOP SECRET clearance (1970-2004).
• Reviewer/limited contributor for a number of legal papers and books, including the second and third editions of Scientific Evidence by Paul C. Giannelli and Edward J. Imwinkelried.
• First-hand account regarding some FBI experiences appears in the chapter entitled “Best Work in Law Enforcement” in the book Guide to Careers in the FBI, 2nd edition by John Douglas, published in 2005 by Simon & Schuster.