Problems in the exercise of the independence of judges in assessing an expert opinion in a criminal case

The article analyzes some procedural and non-procedural factors that prevent the judge from assessing the expert's opinion in a criminal case freely. The article states that, in the existing law enforcement realities, the expert's opinion acquires the status of an absolute evidence having a pre-determined value. This is due to the de facto lack of competition between the parties in the procedures for appointing and producing an examination, as well as to the difficulty of assessing this type of evidence by a judge in the absence of special knowledge for that. Purpose: to develop theoretical provisions justifying the need to improve the procedures for the appointment and production of expert opinions, as well as the assessment of expert opinions by the court, in order to ensure judicial independence. The paper uses the methods of system analysis, synthesis, sociological polling and generalization. The author concludes that ensuring the freedom of judge' inner conviction when assessing an expert's opinion directly depends on expanding the possibilities of using an alternative opinion of another person with a specialized knowledge in the same area - the expert's opinion and testimony. In this regard, it is proposed that the law should make it mandatory to grant requests by parties for expert opinions to be admitted and examined in court, and that the results of such research should be reflected in the text of the court decision on the case.