Problems of concluding an expert opinion based on the results of a forensic veterinary examination of a live animal and ways to solve them

Abstract

Forensic veterinary examination is a new type of forensic examination that is actively developing in the forensic examination institutions of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. Since its theory and methodology are yet forming, there is a need to develop its terminology, methods, and means of conducting and formalizing research results. The purpose of this study was to single out the problematic issues of drafting an expert’s opinion based on the results of a forensic veterinary examination of a live animal and to outline ways to solve them. The study employed various scientific methods, namely dialectical, methods of logic (formal legal, system-structural analysis, modelling, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction), general cognitive methods (description, observation), special methods, the functions of which are performed by methods of lifetime clinical forensic veterinary diagnostics of animals. The present paper focuses on the fact that the specific feature of the introductory part of the conclusion of a forensic expert is that it indicates the object of examination – a live animal. A list of issues to be resolved by the authorized body or person who appointed the forensic veterinary examination was developed in this study. The structure of the investigative part of the forensic expert’s opinion was covered and substantiated for the first time, which is based on a forensic veterinary examination of the subject animal based on the principle of analysing the state of individual body systems, including blood circulation, breathing, urination, sexual, nervous, and sensory. The description in the expert opinion of the results of the analysis of individual veterinary documents concerning the subject of proof was substantiated. It was shown that based on the results of the clinical forensic-veterinary examination of a live animal under expert examination, the forensic expert outlines the forensic-veterinary diagnosis, and in the section of the examination part of the opinion, which synthesizes the results, summarizes the obtained data. It is stated that the final part of the forensic expert opinion contains comprehensive, scientifically sound, consistently laid out, clear, specific, expressive, understandable answers to the questions raised, the list of which is indicated in the introductory part of the opinion. The present paper outlined the structure of appendices to the opinion of a forensic expert, which is most often photo illustrations of injuries found in an animal under examination. The solutions developed in this paper concerning the drafting of an expert’s opinion based on the results of a forensic veterinary examination of a live animal are guaranteed to be reflected in the conduct and drafting of the results of forensic veterinary research.