More than 220 matters,
42 states and D.C.
Direct line: (239) 571-1840 · GregoryGilbertson@proton.me
Attorney and law-firm inquiries only
The footprint, stated from the record: expert practice since 2014, more than 220 civil rights and criminal cases across 42 states and the District of Columbia, and testimony admitted in the state courts of six states and in three federal districts. Here is the count, the spread, and where to verify both.
Three experts. Over 110 years.
Professor Gregory Gilbertson (Ret.), FBI Special Agent Christopher Holland (Ret.), and Sheriff Robert Snaza consult with attorneys nationwide regarding police practices and procedures, use of force, false arrest, police misconduct, criminal, and self-defense casework.
CEO & OwnerThirty-eight years in four uniforms: street cop, soldier, professor, investigator. More than 220 matters in 42 states and D.C. since 2014, with testimony that has not been excluded at trial in any state or federal court.
Full biography
ConsultantMore than thirty-five years in public safety: twelve years and three terms as the elected Sheriff of Lewis County, Washington, and six years a commissioner of the state board that sets peace-officer training standards.
Full profile
ConsultantForty years of investigative casework, from patrolman in St. Louis County to the FBI in Chicago, and on to task forces in Afghanistan and Liberia. His work on the Idaho student murders is examined in Broken Plea, the New York Times bestseller by Christopher Whitcomb.
Full profileNever excluded. Professor Gilbertson’s testimony has not been excluded at trial in any state or federal court.
The Hon. Richard A. Jones United States District Judge“Mr. Gilbertson’s qualifications demonstrate extensive experience in policing. His expansive work as a police officer in Georgia, with assignments as a SWAT team officer, juvenile court investigator, school resource officer, stakeout squad officer, senior patrolman, and patrolman; then a career as a tenured college professor and university lecturer teaching criminal justice courses to degree-seeking students at colleges and universities, and as a licensed private investigator conducting felony pretrial investigations for attorneys in Washington State in dozens of criminal cases, makes him unique in the field of police expert witnesses. The Court finds that, based on his experience, Mr. Gilbertson’s testimony can be expected to have a reliable basis in knowledge and experience of police practices.”
The footprint, from the record.
Professor Gilbertson has consulted as a police practices expert since 2014. The casework now exceeds 220 civil rights and criminal matters across 42 states and the District of Columbia, with retentions from plaintiff’s counsel in civil rights cases, from the criminal defense bar, and from counsel defending officers and agencies.
Admission is the harder metric, and it is specific. Testimony has been admitted in the state courts of Washington, Oregon, Kansas, Connecticut, Florida and Illinois, and in three federal district courts:
- The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
- The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
- The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
The related claim reads simply and carries weight under cross-examination: testimony has not been excluded at trial in any state or federal court. What that sentence claims, and what it does not, is treated carefully at what never excluded means.
The retention mix is part of the footprint. An expert who has only ever worked one side arrives with a built-in cross-examination point; this practice is retained by both, and the analysis applies the same standards whichever side sends the record.
The practice is nationwide, based in Naples, Florida, and geography does not change the terms. Depositions are taken by Zoom on the published schedule, and out-of-town trial testimony runs nationwide under the published travel terms.
What kind of casework the number contains.
A count of matters says little without the spread inside it. The casework runs across the practice areas: use of force measured under Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), false arrest and search, police misconduct, deficient investigations, civilian and officer self-defense, and criminal defense support.
The spread matters because records rarely present one clean issue. A use-of-force file raises training and policy questions; a misconduct file raises report and evidence-handling questions; an investigation file raises questions about what was collected and what was missed. Each is read against national standards and practices, agency policy, state and federal law, and the totality of the facts and circumstances.
Engagement forms cover the same range, from first look to verdict. In practice that means:
- Preliminary case-merit evaluation before a full retention
- Consulting-only or testifying retention
- Written, supplemental and rebuttal reports
- Review of opposing experts and their disclosed opinions
- Deposition, pretrial examination and suppression-hearing testimony
- Trial testimony nationwide
Two of the busiest lanes have their own overviews: use of force casework and police misconduct casework. The full practice-area map, with the sub-issues under each, is on the practice areas overview.
Where counsel verifies the footprint.
Numbers on a website are claims, so the practice publishes where to check them. The selected results page lists published outcomes, each with its citation as filed: civil engagements that produced a recovery for the client and criminal engagements that ended in acquittal. Citations are the operative part; each matter carries the court and docket a reader can pull without taking the site’s word for anything.
A selection is not a scorecard. Matters that resolved other ways are not on the public page, which is why the page says plainly that it is not the complete casework record and offers no result as a promise of any other. Every case turns on its own facts.
For disclosure purposes, the document to rely on is the full table of cases, provided to retaining counsel on request. It includes the matters the public selection leaves out, and it is the version to use when a disclosure requires the expert’s case list. The professional history behind the casework, four uniforms across 38 years, is summarized in the biography.
Case outcomes depend on their facts. No result is promised or implied for any matter, and legal conclusions remain counsel’s: the expert addresses police practices, not the verdict.
When the question becomes a retention.
This page is reference. When a live matter needs the analysis, these are the doors.
The state pages, one per jurisdiction in the file.
Each page lists that state's matters in the practice file, the results published for it, and the courts where testimony has been admitted there.
Adjacent reading.
Asked alongside this one.
How much expert witness casework has Gilbertson handled?
Where has his testimony been admitted?
Is the published case list the complete record?
Bring the matter behind the question.
Attorney inquiries are answered directly. If a case presents a conflict, you will hear it immediately.
Inquiry sent.
You will hear back directly. If the matter is urgent, call (239) 571-1840.
Conflicts are checked before any substantive discussion. Please do not send privileged material with a first inquiry; after retention the record is exchanged on physical media. Gregory consults for attorneys and their staff only, and does not provide legal advice or attorney referrals to individuals.