NY judge orders Frye hearing on ballistics in murder case

A state Supreme Court justice in Brooklyn has ordered a Frye hearing on ballistics evidence in a murder case.

A Frye hearing is used to determine if scientific evidence or expert testimony is based on “generally accepted” techniques.

Defendant Bruce Biggs is charged with second-degree murder, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He’s accused of fatally shooting his brother, Daniel Biggs, on May 2, 2021.

The prosecution seeks to introduce expert testimony about the gun allegedly used, and microscopic comparisons of shell casings from three shootings.

The defense has moved to preclude the expert evidence, limit the scope of the testimony, or hold a Frye hearing, which was granted by Justice Dineen Ann Riviezzo.

Investigators found 17 9 mm caliber shell casings at two locations, one block apart, near the scene of the crime. A police firearms expert concluded that all 17 shell casings shared microscopic characteristics. Another expert concluded the casings were from the same gun.

The prosecution seeks to offer the expert testimony for the homicide and two shootings that occurred just before the homicide.

On March 26, 2021, a firearm was discharged at a location in Brooklyn. Biggs’ sister identified Biggs as the shooter from video surveillance.

Nobody was injured. Police found 16 9 mm shell casings, which police experts determined were from the same gun as the ballistics evidence recovered in the May 2, 2021, homicide.

A month later, on April 23, 2021, a gun was fired at another Brooklyn location. Police found 11 9mm caliber shell casings at that location, and another 9mm caliber shell casing a half a block away.

Police viewed a cellphone video showing a male riding a bicycle and firing a gun at that location. That cellphone video no longer exists, and Biggs was not identified as the shooter.

But police experts determined the shell casings were from the same gun as the casings found in the May 2, 2021, homicide and the March 26, 2021, shooting.

In March, Riviezzo denied the prosecution’s application to use the April 23, 2021, incident as evidence because Biggs was never identified as the shooter, and the video of the incident no longer exists.

In September 2025, a shooting occurred in Binghamton. Eight 9 mm casings were found, and law enforcement experts determined they matched the gun used in the other incidents.

A named suspect has been arrested and charged with attempted murder, and other charges, for the 2025 shooting.

“Expert testimony based on scientific principles or procedures is admissible only after a principle or procedure has gained ‘general acceptance’ in its specified field,” Riviezzo wrote.

“If acceptance cannot be established by judicial notice, legal writings, or judicial opinion, a trial court should conduct a hearing to determine the admissibility of such evidence,” she wrote.

“The reliability test is whether a subject procedure is generally accepted, not unanimously indorsed, by the scientific community,” she wrote.

The burden lies with the party seeking admission of the testimony to offer evidence of its general acceptance within the relevant scientific community, according to the decision.

“There is no absolute rule as to when a Frye hearing should or should not be granted, and courts should be guided by the current state of scientific knowledge and opinion in making such determinations,” she wrote.

Riviezzo ruled that the defense raised a question of fact concerning the general acceptance of firearm and toolmark methodologies.

She noted that the defense pointed out numerous scientific reports “that have called into question both the reliability and general acceptance of (firearms and toolmark) expert testimony.”

The prosecution also raised many questions about the validity of the studies cited by the defense and cited other studies.

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