CROP FACTOR and Eyewitness Perspective

WHAT IS EYEWITNESS PERSPECTIVE?

DSLR Photographic Evidence

Randall Alexander

State Licensed Investigator

February 26, 2023

INTRODUCTION

Since 1999, when I obtained my investigator’s license I have witnessed (like many of you) technology rapidly change and advance.   I was routinely upgrading camcorders and cameras, going through various recording formats from 8mm to disc, then to CFI cards, SD and micro SD, etc. 

 Through this rapid technology change to auto-tech convenience, and the advent of high quality cell phone cameras, many have forgotten or never learned a couple fundamentals of basic forensic photography.  The one aspect I want to address is developing Eyewitness Perspective, or what someone saw with their naked eye. 

 Eyewitness Perspective is when a photographer can stand in the same spot where a witness previously stood, and capture an image with the same depth of field and perspective as the witness’ naked eye view. 

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CROP FACTOR: DSLR PHOTOGRAPHY

Capturing Eyewitness Perspective

 

Investigations: Capturing Eyewitness Perspective

Randall Alexander

Licensed Investigator

August 17, 2023

INTRODUCTION

In the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny, the criminal defense attorney played by Joe Pecsci has the insurmountable task of raising doubt before the jury in what appears to be solid eye witness accounts, linking the defendants to the crime scene. 

With one witness in particular, Cousin Vinny is showing the witness photographs, and asks on cross examination,  “So Mr. Crane, you can positively identify the defendants for a moment of two seconds, looking through this dirty window, this crud covered screen, these trees, with all these leaves on them, and I don’t know how many bushes…” 

As comical as the entire exchange was, there is an element of relevance to be taken away. 

In your investigation, what could a witness actually see from their perspective at the time of the incident?  And ... how can we replicate these conditions in an court approved evidentiary manner?

Factors that come into play are obstructions, lighting conditions, distance, weather, etc. 

I hope you find the article informative!

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Capturing Eyewitness Perspective

PHOTOGRAPHING MINORS IN LITIGATED MATTERS

 

SURVEILLANCE:   PHOTOGRAPHING

MINORS IN LITIGATED MATTERS

Randall Alexander

Legal Investigator

December 7, 2024

INTRODUCTION

There are many aspects of privacy laws that govern our investigative industry. This article is intended to address only one; surveillance video / photographing minors in public, whether intentional or incidental.

 Specializing in Civil Litigation and Family Law Litigation for the past twenty-five years as a licensed investigator, there has been a handful of times while under oath that I have been asked by opposing counsel, “Why did you illegally record my client’s child”?

 If you are not prepared to answer this question, it could reflect poorly on your professional knowledge, competency, and possibly tarnish your investigation as well as your client’s case.   

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Surveillance Involving Mino

DIFFICULT SERVICE OF PROCESS: Requiring a Licensed Investigator

 

DIFFICULT SERVICE OF PROCESS

Requiring a Licensed Investigator

Randall Alexander

Legal Investigator

April 1, 2025

INTRODUCTION

Service of process is traditionally handled by individual registered process servers and attorney document services.  Generally, they offer affordability, often $150 for three attempts by relying on bulk workload where the process server will have numerous cases to attempt service every day. While a registered process server’s role is pretty clearly defined, it is also limited. Their brevity at each stop-and-knock location when attempting to complete service is frequently hit or miss. 

 Ring door technology has created an additional obstacle for the traditional process server where the defendant/subject can now avoid service by remotely screening who is at their door.

Under these circumstances, a law firm may resort to contracting a licensed investigator to complete a “Difficult Service of Process”.   

 HIRING AN INVESTIGATOR

One problem encountered when being asked what an investigator charges for Service of Process is the attorney may have an unrealistic expectation of cost, assuming that licensed investigators will charge similarly to an attorney service.  It usually requires a detailed explanation based on our professional knowledge and experience, so the attorney / client understands the potential costs BEFORE engaging an investigator.

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Difficult Service of Process

CALIFORNIA COHABITATION INVESTIGATIONS

 

COHABITATION INVESTIGATIONS

Family Law Litigation

10-30-2020

Randall Alexander

Licensed Investigator / Paralegal

I was in Family Law Litigation course in college when I was given a fact pattern to research and determine if there was codified law or case law to support a modification for alimony based on a reduced need due to cohabitation. Little did I know, I would become an investigator after college and utilize these many legal lessons I learned in my business practice.  

 Modification of Spousal Support or alimony is a common area of contentious litigation, where investigators are brought in to establish evidence in support of their client’s litigated matter. 

 In Family Law litigation, Cohabitation Investigations can be financially beneficial for the client in the form of reduced or terminated support … IF the facts and evidence support the client’s assertion. 

 Strangely enough, cohabitation cases have frequently resulted in a disconnect between attorneys and investigators due to poor litigation results, while at the same time futilely expending the client’s financial resources.  Which raises the question … why?

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California Cohabitation Investigations

US Supreme Court upholds civil forfeiture without immediate hearing

 

US Supreme Court upholds civil forfeiture without immediate hearing
Jurist News
Gijs de Bra
Cornell Law School, US
May 10, 2024 01:38:50 pm

The US Supreme Court decided Thursday that police officers may continue to seize cars that defendants allegedly use to commit a crime, without an immediate hearing. States often allow that kind of seizure—known as civil forfeiture—when officers believe that the car is connected to a crime in which the owner is not involved.

Justice Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, noted that the constitutional right to due process depends on the circumstances. States cannot take real property without a prior hearing, but personal property is different because it could be hidden before a hearing takes place. So when police officers seize cars, the owner only has a right to a timely hearing after the seizure, and not a prompt one, according to the Court.

The car owners in this case had argued that due process does give them a right to a prompt hearing under Mathews v. Eldridge. 

 In that case, the Court created a test that balances the ...

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Scammers flood US class action settlements with fraudulent claims

Reuters

By Diana Novak Jones

May 2, 2024

 

Artsana, a maker of child car booster seats, last year agreed to settle claims that it had misled customers about how to use its products, offering $50 to people who had bought Chicco-brand seats.

 

The company, which did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement, knew it sold roughly 875,000 such seats, yet court records show that by the end of October it had received more than 3.3 million claims for payment.

 

Faced with a wave of questionable claims, Artsana reversed itself and urged the court not to approve the settlement it had negotiated to end the litigation.

 

“Criminals targeted the claims process in this case using ....

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