PROBLEMATIC ASPECTS OF ENGAGING AN EXPERT BY THE DEFENSE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Introduction. The procedural mechanism of engaging an expert in criminal proceedings by the defense is one of the means of protecting a person and collecting evidence. However, this mechanism remains imperfect, with a number of unresolved problems that become an obstacle to the implementation of the principle of equality of the parties to criminal proceedings in the engagement of experts in criminal proceedings. Summary of the research results. The article attempts to summarize the existing views on the problems of engaging an expert in criminal proceedings by the defense. The author proposes to legislatively regulate the existing inaccuracies in the documentation of the procedure for engaging an expert in criminal proceedings. The article also proposes an approach to improving the procedure for engaging an expert by the defense on a contractual basis. The author provides recommendations on the procedure for taking samples for examination by the defense Conclusions. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that the equality of the parties to criminal proceedings declared by the legislator with regard to submission of evidence to the court and proving its convincing nature before it also includes the issue of engaging a criminal proceedings expert and the right of the defense to conduct an alternative examination. The analysis of the provisions of the current criminal procedure legislation in this part and the results of recent scientific research indicates that this principle of criminal proceedings has a number of shortcomings in its implementation in special rules of criminal procedure.