Arms - Guns - Weapons Expert Witnesses: 15

Chief Chet Epperson (Ret.), MBA, has over 40 years of experience as a Law Enforcement / Police Professional for the Rockford Police Department in Rockford, Illinois. Chief Epperson spent 33 years as an active law enforcement officer and 10 of those years as Chief of Police. 

Chief Epperson maintains practical experience as a municipal police chief, implementing several police reforms in his police agency along with accountability processes. He was instrumental in reforming the Rockford Police Department by enhancing its relationship with the community and providing internal and external transparency. Chief Epperson assisted in the formulation of a multi-jurisdictional task force to investigate officer-involved police shootings, in-custody police deaths, and serious uses of force.

Litigation Support - Since 2016, Chief Epperson has been serving as a Police Practices consultant, providing court-appointed expertise in police agency Federal District Court Consent Decrees. He is an expert in applying Constitutional Standards, State Law, policy, and practice to police incidents. Having Instructed courses on police use of force, internal affairs, and discipline, Chief Epperson is qualified to opine on cases of this nature for both plaintiffs and defendants. His police and jail litigation services include thorough reporting, deposition, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

View AGR Police Practice Group's Consulting Profile.

Steven Howard provides a wide range of Consulting and Expert Witness Services to the legal professional in an ample variety of Firearms, Ammunition, Knives, Blades, Explosive Devices and many other related subjects. His Primary Area of Experience is Gunsmithing and Certified Police Armorer. Mr. Howard has a college degree in Gunsmithing and is a licensed attorney in the state of Michigan. He is a former Federal Agent with the U.S. Border Patrol and a former Federal Police Officer with the Department of Defense. He has 50 years of Gunsmithing experience and is a Certified Police Armorer.

Services Include:

• All Standard Firearms
• Firearms & Ammunition Failures
• Accidental Discharges
• Almost all Machine Guns
• Silencers
• Testing
• Shooting Scene Reconstruction
• Crime Scene Reconstruction
• Knives
• Explosive Devices
• Assistance in Trial Preparation
• Firearms Identification
• Gunshot Residue Interpretation & Cross Contamination

Francis T. "Jay" Jarvis has over 35 years of experience as a Forensic Scientist, specializing in Forensic Ballistics and Firearms Analysis.

During his career, Mr. Jarvis either performed casework in or was a supervisor for most of the forensic disciplines. Between 1982 and 1997, he wore a multitude of hats, performing casework in:

Following his retirement from the Georgia State Crime Lab, Jay Jarvis started Arma Forensics to provide personalized, timely and unbiased forensic services for clients. He has testified as an expert in Federal Court and the courts of Georgia and several other states over 750 times. Mr. Jarvis' specialty is firearms identification and ballistics but he also has casework experience in trace evidence. Mr. Jarvis has extensive experience in crime laboratory accreditation, having served as an accreditation assessor and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB), including one year as the Board Chair.

View Jay Jarvis' Consulting Profile.

Capt. David G. Bacon, is a Maritime Expert with over 30 years of vessel charter experience. He has a United States Coast Guard Captains License (Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessel - unlimited tonnage). Capt. Bacon's vessel charters include fishing, research, cruising, eco-tours, whale watching, diving, kayaking, photography, oil seeps, and oil spills. As owner/operator, and captain of WaveWalker Charters, he has decades of vessel operations experience with zero accidents and zero injuries. Capt. Bacon is experienced with crew training, safety procedures, crew drills, and practice. The Founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit organization providing at-sea educational adventures for special-needs children and adults, he has extensive knowledge of passenger safety orientation and creating/maintaining a safe environment for passengers, including special-needs passengers in for-profit and nonprofit (501c3) ventures.

Litigation Support - Capt. Bacon offers expert witness services to attorneys for both Plaintiff and Defendant and has successfully performed in depositions and testimony.  His cases include:

Capt. Bacon has spent 30+ years participating as a technical writer for marine electronics and electrical journals, work procedures, user manuals, magazine articles, on-line publications, and social media. He is a public speaker with 15 years of experience hosting seminars, informational/motivational lectures, and presentations for civic organizations and clubs.

View Capt. Bacon's Consulting Profile.

Michael Corbett, CFE, CEDS, CAMS, PI, is an Investigations and Compliance Professional with 35 years of leadership in the conduct, management, and oversight of complex investigations. After more than thirty years with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Mr. Corbett offers extensive experience in all phases of investigations to include development of investigative leads; witness identification and interviews; development and management of informants; evidence collection and analysis; operational planning, trial preparation and testimony. He has extensive experience in leading multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional investigations as well as policies, procedures and programs impacting operations.

Mr. Corbett has proven expertise in sensitive international operations requiring close coordination with foreign government officials and agencies and is experienced in working within the diplomatic and consular communities as well as with private sector interests abroad. Experienced in the detection, investigation and mitigation of official corruption.

Areas of Expertise:

Education, Certifications, and Licenses:
Bachelor of Science, Criminal Justice Administration, University of Central Missouri
Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS)
Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)
Licensed Private Investigator, Owner/Manager of a licensed Texas Investigations Company (State License A04186901)

Dr. Ron Martinelli, PhD, CMI-V, is a nationally renowned Forensic Criminologist and a federal/state courts qualified law enforcement and premises liability expert who is also a Certified Medical Investigator (physician's level). He is also a Certified Suicide Investigator. 

Dr. Martinelli directs the nation's only Forensic Death Investigations & Independent Review Team of 26 law enforcement, forensic and medical experts and specializes in officer-involved death cases, civilian self-defense shooting cases and premises liability/security cases. He is a forensic/law enforcement expert to the U.S. Department of Justice, several State Attorney Generals' Offices, numerous major municipalities and nationally prominent private law firms specializing in wrongful death, civil rights and premises liability. 

Dr. Martinelli is the prevailing expert in over 90% of his retained cases. He has saved defendants over $300M and earned plaintiffs over $160 million in jury verdicts and settlements since 2004. He is the media's go-to forensic expert for FOX News, One America News Network, CNN, HLN, Sky News, BBC, NPR, and the History & Discovery Channels. Dr. Martinelli is skilled in crime scene reconstruction, forensics, applied sciences, human factors, psycho-medical emergencies and premises liability and security cases. His unique and extensive field experience, combined his academic and scientific credentials, excellent written reports and persuasive testimony, make him a very appealing expert to attorneys and juries alike.

Areas of Expertise:

• Arrests
• Search & Seizure
• Use of Force / Excessive Force - All Levels and Weaponry
• Officer Involved Shootings(OIS)
• In-Custody Deaths
• Criminal Investigations
• Law Enforcement & Corrections Practices, Training & Supervision
• Adult & Juvenile Corrections
• Law Enforcement Negligence
• Civilian Self-Defense, Premises Liability, Security, Foreseeable Harm
• Insurance Cases
• COVID Detentions & Arrests

David T. Sweeney is a Police Policy and Procedure expert and a 34-year veteran police leader with Oregon State University PD and Seattle PD.  He has decades of experience supervising a large number of sergeants and officers. assisting with expert reviews of policing best practices for pursuits, use of force, security, and a variety of legal standards for police.

Litigation Support - Mr. Sweeney's goal is to improve best practices in policing by offering expert witness and police consultation services. A trained mediator specializing in workplace conflicts, he provides honest, unbiased opinions. Mr. Sweeney has spent 20 years as a sergeant and lieutenant, responsible for training and reviewing topics such as police pursuits, use of force, de-escalation, police supervision, less lethal weapons, active shooter, SWAT, crowd control, legal standards and more.

 Areas of Expertise:

View David T. Sweeney's Consulting Profile.

Evidence Solutions, Inc. (ESI) is a premier forensics company established in 1982 to help clients obtain, understand, and utilize all the data and information available to them.  We can analyze cell phones, computers, hard drives, EDRs, reconstruct accidents, provide trucking standard of care consulting, recover digital data, and provide expert witness testimony in our many areas of expertise. Our experts can help you understand what needs to be done, what should have been done, and what to do next.  Call us today so we can help you!

Litigation Support - Evidence Solutions' team of Expert Witnesses has a combined expertise of nearly 3 centuries. Our experts provide expert witness services in Digital Forensics, Law Enforcement, Cyber Security, Accident Reconstruction, Commercial Trucking, Real Estate, Greek Fraternity, and Aviation.

auto, and truck accidents, accident reconstruction, EDR forensics, sports injury, police standards and policies, CMV standards, Greek fraternity issues, product failure analysis, and medical record recovery and analysis.  No matter how complex the case, they can help you discover what happened and present it in a way that everyone can understand.

Areas of Expertise:

 Featured ESI Experts:

John Ross - Commercial Motor Vehicle - Heavy Vehicle - Truck Driving Standard of Care Expert Witness

John Ross has been driving commercial vehicles professionally since 1993 and boasts a blemish-free, no violations record. His experience includes owner/operator, safety director, and compliance director. He has significant experience in safely transporting hazardous materials (HAZMAT) including oil field operations and transportation. John also has significant experience in loading, unloading, and load securement. 

Expertise: Commercial Vehicles (18 Wheeler), Commercial Vehicle Safety Facilitator, Tractor-Trailer Inspection, CMV Operations, HAZMAT Handling, HAZMAT Driving, Tractor Maintenance, Trailer Maintenance, Professional Driving, Standard of Care Expert, Trailer Loading and Unloading Safety, Truck Driver Actions, Truck Driver Responsibilities, Driver Qualifications, Driver Training, Federal Trucking Regulations (FMCSRs), State Trucking Regulations, Driver Training Instructor, Double & Triple Trailer Driving, Trucking Industry Safety Standards, Loading and Unloading of Hazardous Liquid Safety, Oil Field Heavy Trucking Expertise, Electronic Logs / Electronic Logging

Expertise: General Aviation Repair, FAA UAS Pilot (Unmanned Aerial Systems), Commercial Single Engine/Instrument Rating, Commercial Multi-Engine / Instrument Rating, Land Instrument Training, International Aircraft Acquisition, Airplane Paint and Interior Refitting, Photo and Video Marketing of Aircraft, Aviation Maintenance and Services, Aircraft Sales, General Aviation Pilot Standard of Care, Ultralight Instructor, Maintenance Record Keeping Requirements, Person-Machine-Environment Interface

Daniel J. Brown - Law Enforcement Standard of Care Expert Witness

Daniel J. Brown served in the Law Enforcement profession for nearly 22 years, with close to 28 years of combined policing and military service. He is a seasoned professional with proven leadership skills. He helped establish a municipal police department from inception and used this knowledge to re-build two different fledgling police departments as a police chief. Mr. Brown is a decorated military veteran of two branches of service, holds a graduate-level education, and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. His experience in law enforcement ranges from municipal, county, tribal, and military. He is also a graduate of the 267th Session of the FBI National Academy.

Expertise: Community Policing, Preventing Violence through Community Policing, Major Crimes Investigation, Police Policy and Procedure, Increasing Department Productivity, Municipal, County, Tribal and Military Law Enforcement, Threat Assessment and Management, Enhancing Community Trust, Intelligence Led Policing, School Resource Officers Management, Arizona Peace Officers, Advanced Accident Investigations, Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Country, Firearms Instruction

View Evidence Solutions, Inc,'s Consulting Profile.

Brian L. Landers has nineteen years in Law Enforcement as well as over 25 years in law enforcement training and education, including experience as a police and jail academy director and a full-time criminal justice professor.

Experience: As a law enforcement officer, Mr. Landers started his career in patrol and K-9 and was promoted to supervision as a sergeant and eventually as a lieutenant in charge of the agency's training and hiring procedures. 

Mr. Landers has over 25 years of experience in law enforcement training, including 12 years of criminal justice training. He served 3 term as Mayor of the City of Wisconsin Dells and 3 terms as County Board of Supervisors (Columbia Co.WI). He has participated on the Wisconsin DOJ Tactical Advisory Committee and Wisconsin DOJ Ethics Advisory Committee. He was a Wisconsin Criminal Justice Coordinators President and also served on the Wisconsin Legislature 911Committee.

Mr. Landers frequently serves as a media consultant on police and criminal justice issues for ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox News affiliates.

Litigation Support - Mr. Landers' expert consulting and testimony is primarily focused on federal civil rights cases. His clients include both plaintiffs and defendants and he has been counted on to serve as an expert in high-profile cases. His services include thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Certification:

View Brian L. Landers' Consulting Profile.

Michael Levine is one of the most decorated Supervisory Agents in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration. A US Law Enforcement Procedure Expert, Mr. Levine has many decades of courtroom experience (civil & criminal) as a Trial consultant and Expert Witness, including 25 years of service with DEA, Customs, BATF, and the IRS Criminal Investigations Division. Mr. Levine's supervisory and other law enforcement experience includes being in command of task force units combining officers of FBI, BATF, IRS, Customs, NYPD and other police agencies, service as an Internal Affairs supervisory investigator, a senior inspector with the Department of Justice OPR, Office of Professional Responsibility, and Director of a sheriffs department drug bureau. 

Mr. Levine, during his decades of trial experience, both as a senior law enforcement officer including the past 30 years as a professional trial consultant, has qualified as an expert witness for both prosecution and plaintiff as well defense, in federal and state courts including 19 states, Puerto Rico and 8 foreign nations. He offers full trial consulting and investigative services in both criminal and civil matters as follows: Expert Witness File Review and Strategy Assessment; Case Particular Design of Cross-Examination "menus"; Investigative, Technical and Research Support; Expert Witness Report and/or Affidavit Preparation. Utilizing his extensive experience as a Supervisory Internal Affairs Investigator, he can also identify the elements of probable cause indicative of false reporting, cover-up, and the concealment of Brady materials. Since the year 2007 he has been retained by the Atlanta and DeKalb County District Attorneys Offices, to conduct police-involved shooting reviews and as such has testified before criminal grand juries leading to the indictment and conviction of law enforcement/violators. 

Mr. Levine specializes in full trial consulting services and expert testimony in criminal and civil matters and has testified as an expert in the following areas of expertise:

A listing of his cases may be found on his website www.policetrialexpert.com.

Michael Levine is the only US law enforcement expert ever admitted to testify before a Japanese court, (Japan v Goldstein) and used the Blind Mule Defense, which resulted in an acquittal. He is a best-selling author, media consultant, lecturer and police instructor with extensive experience as court-qualified expert witness and trial consultant in civil and criminal matters.

Since leaving the Department of Justice, he has been retained in excess of 500 occasions as a trial consultant/expert witness throughout the United States, Canada, England and Japan. Mr. Levine has also remained active as a police instructor in the US, Canada and Australia. In January of 2008, his police instructional manual "Undercover Tactics and Informant Handling" previously written for the Department of Justice, was published by the New York State Department of Justice Services and utilized as an instructional manual for New York State law-enforcement. The manual was subsequently edited and republished by the US State Department for the instruction of Brazilian Federal Police which was conducted by Mr. Levine and his team of US-based experts. The manual was subsequently republished via academia.edu from where it is now among the top .05% of Global downloads by police agencies, attorneys and researchers.

 View Michael Levine's Consulting Profile.

Firearms Operability Examination

Microscopic Analysis of Ballistic Evidence

Shooting Incident Reconstruction

Laser Trajectory Analysis of Bullet Paths

Gunshot Residue Distance Determination

Operability and Microscopic Report Review and Evaluation

Trial Preparation and Presentation

Expert Witness Testimony

Witness Interviews and Witness Statement Evaluation

Dr. Roy G. Taylor is a current Chief of Police with over 40 years of experience in a wide-range of federal, state, local, and private criminal justice positions. Dr. Taylor specializes as an expert witness in Police Practices and Procedures and Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Current Positions:

• Chief of Police Blue Ridge Public Safety (2014)
• President/CEO Signal 88 Security of Charlotte (2012)
• President/CEO Capitol Special Patrol (2012)
• Chief of Police Capitol Special Police (2002)
• Lt. Colonel – Provost Marshal, Army National Guard (2000)
• Antiterrorism / Emergency Management Branch Chief DoD (2007)
• Provost Marshal Joint Civil Support Task Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff (2014)

Litigation Support - Dr. Taylor is called upon to analyze cases from both defense and plaintiff perspectives. His services include case review, written reports, deposition, and trial testimony as needed. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Roy Taylor's Consulting Profile.

Emanuel Kapelsohn is an internationally recognized Firearms Training and Use of Force consultant who has instructed thousands of police and security officers, federal agents and others throughout the U.S. and abroad since 1980. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, he is a practicing attorney in addition to his consulting work. 

As vice president of the Internat’l Assoc. of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, Mr. Kapelsohn is a certified in force science and shooting scene reconstruction, and as an instructor in numerous law enforcement disciplines. He is a featured presenter at national and international instructor conferences. He has authored over 130 published articles, is Associate Editor of "Standards & Practices Guide for Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors," and principal author of "Firearms Training Standards for Law Enforcement Personnel," and "Guidelines for Simulation Training Safety." 

Mr. Kapelsohn testifies as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases in state and federal courts nationwide, and has testified by invitation before both houses of Congress. 

Testimony on the Following Subjects:

View Emanuel Kapelsohn's Consulting Profile.

Adam Bercovici has almost 40 years of experience in the Police and Security field. Mr. Bercovici spent 30 of those years with the LAPD, 20 as a supervisor and manager. He is currently a retired LAPD lieutenant and former security company CEO.

Background: Mr. Bercovici's leadership assignments included the Criminal Investigation Section- Major Crimes Division-The Joint Terrorism Task Force, The FBI Violent Crime Task Force ( where he supervised the FBI Fugitive Task Force), The Special Investigation Section, and Homicide Special Section. 

Since 2012, Mr. Bercovici has worked as a licensed private investigator and subject matter expert and consultant in areas of Police Practices and Complex Police Investigations. His clients have included major law firms, insurance companies and corporations.

In the entertainment industry, Mr. Bercovici has been an on-air talent, producer, and script and story consultant.  He was the Co-Talent on The History Channel Series JFK Declassified-Tracking Oswald. He is currently the Technical Consultant for the ABC Network series Stumptown. His cases have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and on the CBS Network.

Litigation Support: Adam Bercovici splits his work between defense and plaintiff. He has been retained by major civil rights firms, major municipalities and their legal counsel, plaintiff attorneys, city attorneys, and criminal defense attorneys. Mr. Bercovici accepts work based on the merits of the individual case.

Areas of Expertise: 

Michael J. Canaan, CPP CFLC, is a Premises Liability Expert Witness with over 45 years of experience in military and civil law enforcement, as well as corporate and private sector security and investigative positions.

Assignments have taken him from the Bering Sea to Southeast Alaska, across Canada and the United States, to countries in Central and South American in case venues ranging from educational settings, amphitheaters and stadiums, nightclubs and sports bars, ships, casinos, retail environments, food processing facilities, malls, and shopping centers.

Expert cases have involved evaluating failure to meet best practices, duty or standard of care in areas such as:

• Inadequate or negligent hiring, retention, training, supervision, staffing, and terminations
• Use of force or excessive force, threats, harassment, and intimidation
• Inadequate or non-non-existent policies and procedures, post orders
• Assaults, voyeurism, rape, sexual assault, robbery, shootings, stabbing, and homicide
• Security technology integration, improper or inadequate physical security infrastructure or systems installation
• Workplace violence

Mr. Canaan has worked on nearly 50 expert cases, with testimony experience in both deposition and trial.

He is Board Certified in Security Management by the American Society for Industrial Security, International. ASIS is the largest professional security practitioner association with over 38,000 members worldwide, of which only 2200 have received this prestigious certification. Mr. Canaan is also a Certified Forensic Litigation Consultant with the Forensic Expert Witness Association.

View Michael Canaan's Consulting Profile.