Firearms Expert Witnesses: 10

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.

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.

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.

Reginald J. Montgomery, CLI, CPP, CFE, CST, CFC, CP, is an industry-leading, Certified Investigator and Security Expert with over 43 years of experience. He is directly responsible for the recovery of over 20 billion dollars (US$20B) worth of embezzled funds and stolen or misappropriated assets for corporate accounts.

Mr. Montgomery is a Certified Legal Investigator (CLI), a Certified Security Trainer (CST), a Certified Protection Professional (CPP), a Physical Security Professional (PSP), a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), a Certified International Investigator (CII), a Board Accredited Investigator (BAI), a Certified Polygraphist (CP), and a Personal Protection Specialist (PPS).

Background Experience - Mr. Montgomery is a distinguished and decorated Law Enforcement Officer in New Jersey until 1979 when he started his own Detective Agency. He has served as a Investigative Consultant, Investigative Project Manager, and/or Field Investigator, Polygraph Examiner/interviewer, Criminal defense investigator (sexual assault) Security and Fraud Expert, and Professional Guardian (elder abuse and exploitation).

He clients are fortune 500 companies, including A&P, Amstar, Banana Republic, Becton Dickinson, Borden, Congoleum, Food town, Hess Oil, Hewlett Packard, Hoffman LaRoche, ITT, Johnson & Johnson, Kate Spade, Liz Claiborne, Merck, Mobil Oil, SC Johnson Wax and many more.

Mr. Montgomery was President of the New Jersey Licensed Private Investigators Association between 1996-2000, has served as the Assistant National Director, Regional Director, National Secretary and Vendor Committee Chair for The National Association of Legal Investigators (NALI) and has served as the Placement and Program Committee Chair, Certification Committee Chair and was the Chapter Chairman (2000-2001) for The American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), Northern New Jersey Chapter.  He also served as Vice-Chairman to the ASIS International Investigations Council.

Litigation Support - Mr. Montgomery has served as an expert witness in virtually every area of Security Litigation. Numerous judicial determinations awarding financial reparations to clients and shielding them from fraudulent and frivolous lawsuits were made due to his  expert testimony. Mr. Montgomery has successfully conducted investigations for Corporate, Legal, and Private concerns of national and international notability. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Reginald J. Montgomery'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.

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.