Expert witnesses play a crucial role in trials. The testimony of these professionals assists ordinary citizens, serving as jurors, in making critical decisions on the basis of highly technical and scientific information, of which these jurors likely have had no special training. Often, jurors are subjected to the testimony of opposing experts for the plaintiff and defense. This "battle of the experts" poses a concern as jurors are asked to make decisions regarding opposing expert opinions of complicated issues.
When jurors are unable to process and understand confusing or complex testimony, they rely on more basic cues to determine their belief in an expert's testimony. For example, in 2000, psychologists Joel Cooper and Isaac M. Neuhaus examined the "hired gun" effect.
In a series of three experiments, Cooper and Neuhaus addressed the proposition that jurors use heuristic shortcuts when presented with information that is too complex for them to comprehend. For example, jurors may rely on the expertise of the communicator and not the information presented to determine if they were persuaded by the message.
The results of the first two studies demonstrated that experts who are highly paid for their testimony and who testified frequently are perceived as "hired guns."
They are neither liked nor believed. The results of the third experiment replicated the "hired gun" effect and showed that it is most likely to occur when the testimony is complex and cannot be easily processed.
At DRC's focus groups, we find that the most effective way to mitigate this "hired gun" effect is to present expert testimony in the most digestible manner possible through persuasive demonstrative aids. DRC uses visually appealing graphics to present expert opinions in a manner that relieves the cognitive burden on jurors. Simply put, the idea is to make it as simple as possible.
The following demonstratives are two examples of evidence provided by expert witnesses being distilled into easily understood concepts.
Incorporating demonstratives into your expert's testimony will help build authority and credibility with the jury.
Before:
In this example, the expert provided us with a diagram illustrating how industrial pollutants seeped into an adjacent river: leaks from the plant entered the water table, formed a plume, and the plume was carried to the river by the flow of groundwater.
After:
Through three-dimensionality, contrasting colors, and the use of a legend, DRC created a clear and vivid depiction of the process, which the jury was more likely to understand and remember.
Before:
In this case, the expert estimated the rate of contract breaches by taking a sample from a large population of mortgage products.
After:
Using visually attractive demonstrative aids to assist with your expert witness testimony will help keep jurors engaged and attentive. Jurors will be in a better position to comprehend the information presented to them at trial and keep them focused on the concepts at issue, as opposed to their personal feelings about the expert.