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KENNETH DEL VECCHIO
EXPERT WITNESS – VIDEO EVIDENCE
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ALL Video Evidence: Reasonable Chance it is FAKED.
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Is the Video Evidence Authentic? Is the video an actual recording of what it purports to be—or is it a fake?
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Has the Video been Tampered, Altered, Doctored or Edited? Is it an Optical Illusion?
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Kenneth Del Vecchio – a Critically Acclaimed Filmmaker, Film Festival Founder & Chairman, Best-selling Author (Legal Books & Novels), Attorney who has Tried Over 400 Cases…and former Judge - is the most qualified expert in the country to testify as to the authenticity and credibility of video evidence.
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Services – Video Evidence Expert Witness Testimony…Report Drafting…Evidence Review…and Re-Creation of the Video Evidence to Prove its Lack of Authenticity at Trial
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There is a reasonable chance that any given piece of video evidence is fraudulent, as it could have been digitally created. In many circumstances, it is technically impossible to determine if the video evidence is real or faked. Why?
History
Until fairly recent times, video evidence, on its face, could normally be considered authentic. Although video evidence, inherently, yields credibility issues in varied forms (e.g. – optical illusions, camera placement & mishaps, troubled lighting, etc), rarely did a litigant have a winning argument that the entire video (or a portion of it) was fabricated, as the necessary digital technology did not exist.
In the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, The Running Man, Schwarzenegger’s character was convicted of dozens of murders after the jury watched a video of him shooting unarmed civilians from a helicopter. Later in the film, it is revealed that Schwarzenegger did not commit the mass murders. The world was stunned as they had all watched the crystal clear video evidence of the evil Schwarzenegger mercilessly shooting the defenseless victims on the ground. However, they ultimately learned that Schwarzenegger’s murderous rampage was digitally created—the video was a fraud.
In 1987, the scenario depicted in The Running Man was viewed as pure science fiction. Digitally creating events (events that never actually occurred) was not considered possible as the technology was non-existent. Today, the world understands that technology does indeed exist—and it’s an absolute reality that any person with basic filmmaking knowledge and capabilities can digitally create any “scene” he/she desires.
Digitally Creating a Scene & Expert Testimony that will Make or Break a Case
The first time audiences witnessed, en masse, the phenomenon of a digitally created scene was in 1994, in the mega hit film, Forrest Gump. In the midst of the numerous miraculous matters happening with the Tom Hanks character, he meets – and shakes hands with United States President, Lyndon B. Johnson. Not only did the handshake and conversation appear authentic, but it appeared as real as any movie handshake/conversation in the history of cinema. Further, it appeared as real as any handshake/conversation witnessed in real life.
Click Here to See Scene
Click Here to See How Scene Was Digitally Created
Tom Hanks, of course, never shook LBJ’s hand, nor had any conversation with him whatsoever. At the time when the fictional Forrest Gump/LBJ exchange occurred, Mr. Hanks was younger than 10 years old. This was pure movie magic—but it was no longer science fiction!
Since Forrest Gump, millions of digitally created “non-events” have graced the big screens of movie theaters, the small screens of TVs, the computer screens of the worldwide populous…and the courtrooms. Masses of jurors and judges, yearly, are fooled, believing that they are viewing authentic video evidence, when really they have been duped by frauds. In truth, much of the video evidence has been digitally created by motivated litigants in thousands of civil and criminal cases…And the biggest problem: in many of the cases, there is no way to tell if the video is authentic or faked via digital creation.
Kenneth Del Vecchio – a critically acclaimed filmmaker, film festival founder and chairman, best-selling author (legal books & novels), attorney who has tried over 400 cases…and former Judge - is the most qualified expert in the country to testify as to the authenticity and credibility of video evidence. He can testify, with absolute certainty, that there is a reasonable chance that the video evidence presented in any given case has been digitally created, and therefore is a fraud. This testimony cannot be rebutted by any other qualified expert. This testimony can make or break any case that relies upon video evidence.
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Re-Creation of the Video Evidence to Prove its Lack of Authenticity at Trial
Let’s say that a defendant in a multi-million dollar commercial litigation case presents a video of a conversation that he had with the plaintiff, a former business partner. At dispute in the case is the percentage ownership interest the plaintiff held in a company after he made a $2 million investment. The plaintiff asserts that the investment yielded him a 33% interest, while the defendant claims that it provided him only with a 10% interest. The plaintiff and defendant were formerly best friends and they had made a handshake deal, with no written agreement. The defendant offers the video as affirmative proof that the investment only bought the plaintiff a 10% interest. The footage depicts the plaintiff and defendant having a conversation in a diner, at table with coffee and sandwiches. The following colloquy occurs:
Defendant:
“You always did like chicken salad.”
Plaintiff:
“Get to the point."
Defendant:
“Do you want more coffee?”
Plaintiff:
“Please get to the point.”
Defendant:
“You were obligated to invest $2 million into the company, right?”
Plaintiff:
“That’s right.”
Defendant:
“And that investment would take you from being just a salaried employee
to having a 10% ownership interest in the company, on top of your salary.”
Plaintiff:
“Right again.”
Defendant:
“So, then we have no disagreement because nothing has changed. I don’t know why you made me meet you here. You really are a pain."
Plaintiff:
“Then I guess I’ll pick up the check.”
The plaintiff argues that this video is a fraud. He states that he did meet with the defendant in the diner, and admits that the entire side of his conversation was authentic and accurate. However, he claims that part of what the defendant says never occurred; he claims that the conversation was about an entirely different topic. The plaintiff then hires Kenneth
Del Vecchio as his video evidence expert. Mr. Del Vecchio reviews the video, and drafts a report identifying that he can testify, with absolute certainty, that there is a reasonable chance that this video was faked, as video evidence presented in any given case could be real – or it could be a digitally created fake.
To support his expert report and testimony, Mr. Del Vecchio re-creates the diner video—and more.
He employees two actors to play the plaintiff and defendant. He shoots a scene of them having a conversation in a diner. The conversation is similar to the conversation in the video presented by the defendant, with a few glaring differences. Following is the colloquy in the
Del Vecchio video (the differences are highlighted in bold and red):
Defendant:
“You always did like chicken salad.”
Plaintiff:
“Get to the point.”
Defendant:
“Do you want more coffee?”
Plaintiff:
“Please get to the point.”
Defendant:
“You’re mad at me, right?”
Plaintiff:
“That’s right.”
Defendant:
“Because I did the wrong thing by taking out Laura because she’s one of
our secretaries. But I cut it off quickly and promised not to date her again
because you asked me to.”
Plaintiff:
“Right again.”
Defendant:
“So, then we have no disagreement because nothing has changed. I don’t know why you made me meet you here. You really are a pain.”
Plaintiff:
“Then I guess I’ll pick up the check.”
Mr. Del Vecchio is not done with this video, however. In a basement, he then shoots the actor playing the defendant in front of a green screen. He shoots the actor saying the following two lines (which come from the defendant’s video):
Defendant:
“You were obligated to invest $2 million into the company, right?”
Defendant:
“And that investment would take you from being just a salaried employee
to having a 10% ownership interest in the company, on top of your salary.”
Thereafter, Mr. Del Vecchio takes all of the video footage into an editing room. There, he removes the defendant’s dialogue/footage about the plaintiff being “mad” and the date with the secretary, etc. He then takes the green screen dialogue/footage about the “$2 million investment” and “10% ownership interest” and, using basic editing techniques, inserts it in place of the removed original footage. Mr. Del Vecchio then demonstrates at trial just how easily the defendant’s video footage could have been a fraud, by means of simple digital technology—and how no one, expert or otherwise, can tell the difference.
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Tampered, Altered, Doctored or Edited Video Evidence; Optical Illusions
In addition to the his overriding expert testimony that there is a reasonable chance that the video evidence presented in any given case has been digitally created or altered, Mr. Del Vecchio can provide expert testimony to further destruct the credibility of video evidence, in the following manners:
- Pinpoint where video evidence has been tampered with, altered, doctored or edited.
- Explain, in cases of purported authentic video, how there is doubt (in varying degrees) that what appears to be occurring may really not be occurring. For example, the camera angle, or lighting, or sound effects often create optical illusions…What looks like a baseball bat hitting someone’s head may really be a baseball bat missing the head by a foot.
Mr. Del Vecchio can re-create the baseball bat beating – and nearly any type of activity –
with actors, demonstrating to a jury or judge the true dubious nature of the video footage they are watching.
Click Here to Learn More & to Retain Kenneth Del Vecchio as Your Expert Witness
Kenneth Del Vecchio, Esq. – Ken@JusticeForAllProductions.com – (201) 741-2686 - (973)396-2555
Common Tages:
Video Evidence Expert Witness, Video Expert Witness, Video
Evidence Expert, Vdeo Expert, Video and Audio Expert Witness,
Video and Audio Expert, Video Evidence, Expert in Video
Evidence, Film Evidence, Film Expert Witness, Film Expert,
Expert in Film Evidence, Film Festival Expert, Video Trial
Expert, Video Evidence Trial Expert, Criminal Law Expert,
Criminal Law Expert Witness, Expert in Criminal Law
Expert Witness
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