Maryland Drug Forensic Expert Witness Korey Shorb

Maryland drug forensic expert witness Korey Shorb has the skills and experience needed to strengthen your case. Korey strives to testify at the highest level in hearings, depositions, and trials and has prepared dozens of forensic drug expert witness reports for criminal, family, and other legal cases.

Not only does Korey have 10 years of extensive training in substance abuse counseling and how to effectively provide expert witness testimony, he’s also a sober living success for over 12 years and the founder of Up & Out Sober Living, a facility that provides temporary housing for men and women struggling with addiction.

When your future, your record, and your family are on the line, it’s critical to have someone on your side who isn’t just good at their job, but also knows what it’s like to face the same challenges you’re looking at and how to overcome them.

Strengthen Your Case with Expert Witness Testimony

You’ve been charged with a serious drug crime and now your future, career, and relationships are on the line. Whether you are a juvenile or an adult, staring down the barrel of the Maryland criminal justice system — or dealing with the family court — is a frightening experience.

When drugs are involved, the situation can become exponentially more complex. Criminal penalties are serious for drug crimes, and family legal matters can change on a dime when one or both parents are accused of or experience substance abuse problems.

How can you best prepare yourself for the upcoming court process? When it feels like everyone is against you and pushing for the maximum consequences, who can you trust to defend you and to prioritize your rights and best interests?

When You Need More Than an Attorney

Your first thought is likely, “a lawyer.” You’re not wrong, but there’s more to consider beyond simply obtaining basic legal advocacy. In some cases, attorneys lack the specific knowledge needed to properly represent and defend their clients to achieve a favorable verdict on their own. One example of this is with complicated drug cases.

Legal cases involving drugs aren’t nearly as cut and dry as they’re made out to be. When they involve a lot of nuances or the prosecution has a particularly compelling case against you, it’s important to work with an expert in the field who can help you develop the strongest defense possible.

This is especially true in the case of juveniles — the court system works entirely differently for minors and the right advocacy can mean the difference between stiff penalties and real help and rehabilitation.

What Is a Forensic Drug Expert Witness?

In a legal setting, an expert witness is someone whose opinion is considered authoritative because they possess skills, experience, education, or training in a particular field of study that goes above and beyond proficiency.

Often, expert witnesses are professionals in their field, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, a trauma surgeon, an accident reconstructionist, an engineer, or a specialist physician.

A forensic drug expert is an expert witness whose field of special study and experience revolves around substance use, abuse, intoxication, and addiction. They may be physicians, counselors, mental health professionals, and drug treatment and rehabilitation experts.

What Does a Forensic Drug Expert Witness Do?

A forensic drug expert witness reviews case evidence and offers an expert opinion on a particular issue. For example, take a drug expert on the prosecution’s side in a DUI case. The expert witness in this scenario is likely to offer testimony that the driver’s behavior and chemical test results indicate that they were unfit to safely operate their vehicle.

A drug expert on the defendant’s side, however, may argue that blood test results and observable behavior indicate the driver was not intoxicated by the substance in question at the time of their arrest.

Defendants in many different types of legal cases and their attorneys are beginning to realize the value that expert witness testimony has for both sides, and more experts are being hired to provide testimony on behalf of the person defending a criminal accusation or family legal issue.

Forensic drug experts generally have robust knowledge in the following areas of expertise:

Psychology and human behavior. Understanding why people act in the manner they do and what motivates a person to use or abuse drugs is an important part of humanizing the defendant to the judge and jury.
Mental health disorders. Mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia have long been interlinked with substance abuse. Drug experts should have a grasp on the most common mental health disorders and how they may be interlinked with the probability of drug abuse and addiction.
Toxicology and pharmacology. Forensic drug experts should have extensive training on toxicology and pharmacology and be able to read and understand toxicology reports. They should be able to communicate complex terminology, definitions, evidence, and conclusions to a judge and jury in an easy-to-understand manner.
Socioeconomic issues. Socioeconomic issues like poverty, systemic racism, and social inequality have an impact on drug use and abuse. A forensic drug expert witness should have a good understanding of the relationship between drug use and the socioeconomic issues that can exacerbate it.
Rehabilitation counseling and treatment. Drug expert witnesses on the defendant’s legal team aren’t gunning for a guilty verdict — their ultimate goal is to see that individuals struggling with addiction and substance abuse get the treatment and rehabilitation they need. A forensic drug expert witness should have a deeper understanding of drug rehabilitation principles and be able to work with local and national treatment centers.