The mechanism of obtaining a forensic expert’s testimony as an element of evaluating his/her conclusion: forensic-veterinary aspect

Abstract

The paper outlines peculiarities of a forensic veterinarian’s inter-rogation, the subject of which is the provision of testimony by a forensic veterinarian, specification or clarification of a conclusion. The Purpose is to characterize the peculiarities of obtaining a forensic expert’s testimony as an element of evaluating his/her conclusion and to determine its influence on the quality of conclusion evaluation. For this purpose, general scientific and special research methods have been applied. Emphasis is made on the forensic veterinary aspect of this is-sue. It has been proven that the procedure for summoning a forensic expert, the place and procedure of his/her interrogation are governed by the procedural legislation of Ukraine and correspond to the rules of summoning and interrogating other participants in a criminal proceeding. The algorithm of a forensic veterinarian’s interrogation has been defined, including the following stages: 1) defining a forensic veterinarian’s competence; 2) specifying certain aspects involving appointment and the course of forensic veterinary examination conduct; 3) analyzing objects and initial data used by the forensic veterinarian during forensic examination and conclusion compilation; 4) elucidating peculiarities of applied forensic research methods and information sources; 5) argumentating the expert conclusion’s credibility. The procedure of interrogating forensic experts who conducted a set of forensic examinations or panel forensic examination has been identified as well as peculiarities of such interrogation. Сonditions under which it is in-expedient to interrogate a forensic veterinarian have been established. It is argued that from a praxeological point of view, the proposed algorithm of interrogating a forensic veterinarian contributes to the court’s work: it helps to accurately evaluate a conclusion and prevent unnecessary collateral questions.