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Reed v. Maryland9/6/1978
of the accuracy of a particular technique makes its use prejudicial or likely to mislead the jury, it is better to admit relevant scientific evidence in the same manner as other expert testimony and allow its weight to be attacked by cross-examination and refutation."
The Massachusetts Supreme Court held that voiceprint analysis did satisfy the Frye standard. In Commonwealth v. Lykus, supra, 327 N.E.2d at 678 n. 6, that court stated:
" e agree that there certainly is not uniform and total acceptance of the [voiceprint] method [in the scientific community] . . . . Yet the . . . Frye standard does not require unanimity of view, only general acceptance; a degree of scientific divergence of view is inevitable. In this case we are disposed to give greater weight to those experts who have had direct and empirical experience in the field of spectrography. . . .
"Thus, we find the evidence presented in support of the reliability of voiceprints, particularly as
expressed in Dr. Tosi's study, sufficiently persuasive to outweigh the criticism expressed by certain other scientists in the field of acoustics."
Nevertheless, it is not fully clear whether the Massachusetts court was, consistent with the Frye standard, deciding that the voiceprint method is generally accepted by the scientific community or whether it was attempting itself to determine the merits of the claims of the various scientists. In any event, we find ourselves more in agreement with Judge Kaplan, dissenting in Commonwealth v. Lykus, supra, 327 N.E.2d at 682, who stated:
"To sum up, opinion is divided on the Tosi method; the journal material shows turbulence and discord rather than that 'general acceptance' which the Frye case lays down as a precondition of admissibility. Nor can it be plausibly said that those with adverse views are either unqualified to have opinions worthy of respect or are strangers to the relevant scientific 'field.'"
Furthermore, we disagree with the Massachusetts court's characterization of the nature of the dispute. A degree of scientific divergence of opinion is indeed inevitable, but the degree of divergence surrounding the voiceprint process is fundamental and goes to the very validity of the process itself. This kind and degree of divergence is notably absent in other areas of scientific evidence generally deemed admissible. As stated in Comment, The Voiceprint Dilemma: Should Voices Be Seen and Not Heard?, 35 Md. L. Rev. 267, 280 n. 79 (1975):
" xperts may disagree as to the application of a technique, or as to the results of that application, but they do not generally question that the technique is capable of producing the results claimed. For instance, it is common knowledge that psychiatric diagnoses are often at odds with each other, and it is easy to picture experts disputing whether two writing samples came from the same hand. It is
much more difficult to imagine experts disputing whether psychiatric diagnoses or handwriting identifications are possible with any significant degree of reliability. Yet that is precisely the nature of the voiceprint dispute; experts question the capability of the process itself, not just the results of its application." (Emphasis supplied.)
In addition, it is the almost unanimous opinion in recent legal commentaries that the voiceprint technique does not satisfy the standards articulated in Frye v. United States. See, e.g., Comment, The Voiceprint Dilemma: Should Voices Be Seen and Not Heard? supra; Comment, Voiceprints: The End of the Yellow Brick Road, 8 U.S.F. L. Rev. 702 (1974); Jones, Danger -- Voiceprints Ahead, 11 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 549 (1973); Jone
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