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Certified Forensic Death Investigator (CFDI) Program
Dean A. Beers, CLI, CCDI, CFDI-Expert and Karen S. Beers, BSW, CCDI, CFDI-SME
Associates in Forensic Investigations, LLC
Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council (CDITC) Accredited

For this program and the CFDI, of importance is knowing the role of the prosecution. This includes the
dissemination of the discovery. The discovery is first provided by law enforcement and the medical

examiner, and any other official agencies – laboratories, other responding agencies – as part of the process
of determining charges and filing, convening a grand jury, request additional investigation and evidence

processing. The coroner can hold a coroner’s inquest – a similar process, but no authority for charges – only

for a jury to determine Cause and Manner of Death.

Of primary interest to the criminal defense team and CFDI is if all of the evidence has been provided to the

prosecution, and if all of the same has been provided to the defense through discovery. As part of the review

and analysis by the CFDI is if any omissions or questioned discovery is found. These should be addressed to
the defense team. Such errors may be intentional or an oversight. Through experience the CFDI should be

familiar with Brady Violations, first decided by the US Supreme Court in Brady vs. Maryland (1976), and
4
further affirmed multiple times and in 2006 in Youngblood vs. West Virginia :
“A Brady violation occurs when the government fails to disclose evidence materially favorable to
the accused. This Court has held that the Brady duty to disclose extends to impeachment evidence

as well as exculpatory evidence, and Brady suppression occurs when the government fails to turn
over even evidence that is ‘known only to police investigator and not to the prosecutor.’ ‘Such

evidence is material if “there is a reasonable possibility that had the evidence been disclosed to the
defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different”,’ although a ‘showing of

materiality does not require demonstration by a preponderance of the evidence that disclosure of
the suppressed evidence would have resulted ultimately in the defendant’s acquittal.’ The reversal

of a conviction is required upon a ‘showing that the favorable evidence could reasonably be taken
to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict.’”

The CFDI may find a report referencing, or including, several photographs, reports, or witness statements

not found in other discovery. Or the discovery is not shared in the original format – such as using scanned
or photocopied images instead of copies of the original files. It is important for the CFDI to work with the

same evidence the official investigations were conducted with – or as near as possible. Information and
detail is lost in scans and photocopies. It may seem trivial for random pages to be missing from records and

reports – and it may be of no importance in the end – but at the time of finding any erroneous or missing
information, the importance (or lack of) is unknown. If possible, and permitted – direct requests to all official

4 https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/547/867/
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