A. Frank Hicks
Forensic Document Examiner

Frank Hicks is continuously re-certified by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners (ABFDE) and maintains his membership in the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners (ASQDE), both with stringent requirements for continuing professional education and contributions to the field.

His 35+ years of experience in working and testifying on cases involving questioned documents includes:
• signature comparisons (wills, trusts, deeds, business contracts)
• handwriting examination (anonymous notes, medical charts, holographic wills)
• medical charts, involving questions of pages substituted or entries added or changed after the fact
• printing processes, typewriters, fax transmittals, photocopy manipulations
• ink and paper questions

View CV (not for designation)

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A. Frank Hicks

A. Frank Hicks is certified by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners (ABFDE). He is a member of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners and a Fellow in the Questioned Document Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He is also a Charter Member and past President of both the Southeastern Association of Forensic Document Examiners and the Mississippi Division of the International Association for Identification.

A. Frank Hicks graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forensic Science. He completed an  internship and training in the Questioned Document Section of the Georgia Crime Laboratory in Atlanta before returning to Mississippi to start the Questioned Documents Section in the Mississippi Crime Laboratory in 1978.

Frank remained in charge of the Mississippi Crime Laboratory Questioned Document Section and trained two other examiners until his retirement in August of 2002, when he relocated to California to enter into full-time private practice with Howard C. Rile, Jr., successor to Harris & Harris.

Frank has testified as an expert witness hundreds of times in his specialty in both civil and criminal cases in local, state and federal courts.  

 Howard C. Rile, Jr. (retired)

Howard C. Rile, Jr. is certified by and past president (1997-1999) of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, Inc. He is also a Life member and past president of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, Inc. He has retired from full-time private practice but maintains a peer-review and consulting relationship with Frank Hicks upon request.

Prior to his retirement, he also maintained memberships in the Southwestern Association of Forensic Document Examiners, the Canadian Society of Forensic Science, the Document Section of the American Academy of Forensic Science, and the ASTM. Howard revised a chapter on signatures in Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents, 2nd Edition.

Howard C. Rile, Jr. graduated from California State University at Los Angeles in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.  He was employed and trained at the firm of Harris and Harris, Examiners of Questioned Documents, at Los Angeles, California. Following his training, he was employed as a document examiner by the Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller and then for the State of Colorado at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in Denver. In 1983, Howard returned to private practice and was affiliated with Harris and Harris until 1996, when he opened his own office. In 2002, Howard invited A. Frank Hicks to join him in private practice.

Howard has testified as an expert witness hundreds of times in his specialty in both civil and criminal cases in local, state and federal courts.