07/22/2026
This email made our day at Blue Line Training and Development. When an Officer is kind enough to share that the training and preparation made a difference at trial.
Subject: Court Testimony
Heather,
I would again like to thank you for your “Courtroom Testimony” portion of your CSI II class, that I recently attended. I know at our round table wrap up discussion at the end of the course. I made a comment about the benefit of that portion of the class. But I felt compelled to follow up with this e-mail. In the last couple weeks, I’ve had to testify at the Murder Trial of ______ Now deemed “The fastest case ever for _________County” which took place in May. I was the lead CSI on the case where the suspect shot the victim from his front porch. He had concealed carry insurance and was provided with a 6-person legal defense team. Both sides stipulated to the ISP labs involvement and waived any testimony of the fi****ms expert. But with that said. I did have to testify and present all the evidence in the case. They did have me up on the stand for over an hour and a half. With them stipulating to the Lab. Many of their questions fell on me. I did have to testify to the differences between cartridge, shell casing, projectile, explaining them to the jury. Also, with a close-up photo of a shell casing, I did have to explain the caliber, model and unique characteristics of a spent casing as it pertains to NIBIN. I did have to testify about the BEAST system as well as explain collection, preservation and documentation of recovered evidence. They did have me get into all the different initials, evidence tape placement and additional labels on evidence that had gone to the lab. As well as opening numerous items of evidence and giving the “Vanna White” display to the jurors. I did have a large portion of testimony on scene documentation on both video and photos. The overall, mid-range and closeup photos of one image were of particular interest to both sides of attorneys and why we take multiple images of the same item.
I have worked on numerous Homicides in my career. However, none of us testify that often that it becomes commonplace. I brought my blue notebook from your class to court with me. While waiting in the hall, I reviewed my notes on our 7-step protocol in Illinois. I reviewed my opening statement of what CSI’s duties are. To locate, document, & collect forensic physical evidence to connect a victim or suspect to the scene or to each other. I feel confident with my testimony, bolstered by your preparation. The defense team did not take a hard run at me or my CSI practices. I was surprised by that. They had to settle to ask if physical evidence collected can tell me if the victim was angry, argumentative or confrontational prior to the act. To which of course, I stated it could not. However, that was about the extent of what they could get at me. Although the butterflies are always there in testifying. I felt a lot more confident getting on that stand.
Thank You
