A phony check is cashed. Who wrote it? An anonymous bullying letter is found on a desk at work. Who left it there? A suspicious Last Will and Testament is contested in court. Is the signature legitimate? Plots from CSI? No. These are the daily (and fascinating) challenges faced by forensic handwriting analyst Jacqueline Joseph, who is often called in to do analyses in cases that can involve millions of dollars, jail terms, and even career life or death. In her work Jacqueline frequently uses metaphors to explain what she does.
Case #1: Who Wrote it?
A decedent’s family member suspects a will’s signature is forged and hires a lawyer to validate it, who in turn calls in Jacqueline. The family member, however, doesn’t quite understand what added value a forensic handwriting analyst brings to a situation. In this case, Jacqueline will
begin her explanation by saying, “The stroke of a pen is like a bulldozer: it can move an entire estate.” With that easy visualization, the family member is now open to hearing Jacqueline’s processes and techniques for finding the truth about who held the pen to write the signature on the will.
Case #2 Who Didn’t Write It?
The HR director was stymied.
An anonymous note was found at the workplace of a large food packing plant.
The note was written by a tattletale.
It exposed a worker who was allegedly having an affair with one of the managers.
The manager was married, and strongly denied the affair.
The manager needed to save his marriage, reputation and job.
The HR director hired Jacqueline to examine handwriting samples of the 12 prime suspects to find out who wrote the note.
Jacqueline carefully examined the suspects’ distinct handwriting features. She explained, “Each distinct feature is as unique as a jigsaw puzzle piece. To find the writer of the note, the handwriting features need to fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle.” In this case, the pieces didn’t fit. None of the 12 suspects had written the note.
Advising the HR director as to who didn’t write the note, Jacqueline urged further investigation. It was her work that utimately saved the accused manager’s career, reputation, and marriage.
Case #3: Find the Smoking Gun!
In a small town in a remote area of Eastern Oregon, the lawyer’s client (the plaintiff) admitted, “It looks like my signature, but I never signed that document.”
The document was a sale agreement giving the assets of the plaintiff’s business to the defendant, his former business partner– and former lover(!)
The plaintiff added, “I would never sell my business because it’s part of my estate.”
The lawyer for the plaintiff provided Jacqueline with his client’s signature exemplars. Jacqueline’s forensic examination revealed that the signature on the sale agreement was genuine.
However, something was disturbingly suspicious. (The plot thickens.)
Jacqueline requested additional signature exemplars from the bank records and, lo and behold, she found the exact signature used to create the false bill of sale. This was proof that the bill of sale was a fake, an intentional cut-and-paste effort by the defendant to manufacture the evidence needed to steal the business.
Jacqueline’s client, the plaintiff’s attorney, decided to expose this smoking gun during the court proceeding.
The judge saw the factual evidence. The crime was exposed to the utter surprise of the defendant, who intentionally hadn’t disclosed her actions to her own lawyer, who was also totally surprised. The case was settled and the plaintiff kept his business and his estate intact. (One can only imagine what happened to their romantic relationship!)
Basically, as Jacqueline said, “I functioned like a locksmith; my work opened a locked door to the truth.”
Never a Dull Moment
What a job Jacqueline has: helping prove innocence or uncovering deceit, greed, and betrayal, or worse! (And always with metaphors)
Makes one wonder is there a CFHA (Crime Forensic Handwriting Analysis) television show in Jacqueline’s future?
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay! – with Metaphors
P.S. Jacqueline Joseph is accepting inquiries from attorneys and individuals seeking reliable proof of authorship when a handwritten anonymous note or a signature that “just doesn’t look right” is part of a legal battle or other sensitive workplace disruption. With thirty years’ experience, she is a recognized expert in court proceedings, as well as a noted authority in the field of forensic handwriting and document examination. For more information, visit http://jjhandwriting.com
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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