This article revisits the issue of admissibility of computer-generated animations purporting to reconstruct a series of events or an accident. Our discussion is prompted by the Aug. 6 decision of the California Supreme Court in People v. Duenas, upholding the admission of an animation re-enacting the sequence of events in the shooting of a deputy sheriff and offering guidance on why the animation was properly received by the trial judge. The appeal raised the interesting question whether slick animations can so beguile a jury that the demonstrative imagery is unduly prejudicial for that reason.
In 2004, U.S. Eastern District of New York Judge Jack Weinstein issued his visionary opinion in Verizon Directories v. Yellow Book USA,1 favoring admissibility of computer-generated demonstrative exhibits or techniques referred to as “pedagogical devices.” Weinstein was confident that judges could control against abuses or inequities in resources and tailor proceedings so that such demonstrative materials would help jurors find the truth. This writer discussed the opinion and admissibility issues in two columns.2
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