Texas Evidentiary Foundations

Hon. John F. Onion, Jr. has a distinguished career in the Texas judiciary spanning almost five decades. During his legal career he has served as an Assistant District Attorney, Justice of the Peace, Judge of the 175th District Court in Bexar County, a Judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Presiding Judge of that same court for 18 years. Since 1989 he has sat by designation on various Texas Courts of Appeals. Since 1966, he has authored the Interpretive Commentaries for the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

Edward J. Imwinkelried is the Edward L. Barrett, Jr. Professor of Law Emeritus at UC Davis School of Law. A nationally recognized expert on subjects such as DNA typing, forensic psychiatry, and laser techniques for fingerprint detection, Professor Imwinkelried is the author of more than 200 books and other publications. He is frequently called upon for advice on privileges and the admissibility of evidence of other crimes, and his treatise Scientific Evidence is considered authoritative. Professor Imwinkelried served as an army lawyer in the XXIV Corps and 196th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam in 1971-1972. He went on to become a lecturer on evidence, criminal procedure, crimes and trial advocacy in the Criminal Law Division of the Judge Advocate General's School in Virginia, then a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego and Washington University before coming to UC Davis in 1985. (He has also taught as a Visiting Professor at the Ohio State University, the University of Illinois, University of Houston, and University College Dublin.) He is presently a member of the National Conference of Bar Examiners committee that drafts the Evidence questions for the Multistate Bar examination.

David A. Schlueter is the Hardy Professor of Law and Director of Advocacy Programs at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. Professor Schlueter teaches evidence, trial advocacy, and constitutional law, and has served as both criminal trial and appellate counsel. He has authored, co-authored, or edited 12 books on procedure and evidence, including the two volume work, FEDERAL EVIDENCE TACTICS (with Imwinkelried). His writings have been cited frequently by state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, and legal commentators. Before joining the faculty at St. Mary's in 1983, he served on active duty as an Army JAGC and for two years as legal counsel for the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a fellow in the American Law Institute and a Life Fellow in the American Bar Foundation. From 1988 until 2005, he served as the Reporter for the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Advisory Committee.