Connecticut's High Court Rejects Invitation to Adopt Kumho Tire

The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld the admissibility of expert testimony on the psychological and behavioral characteristics of "preferential" sex offenders from Kenneth Lanning, a former FBI agent who frequently appears as an expert witness on the subject. See State v. Sorabella, No. 17215 (Conn. Sup. Ct. Feb. 7, 2006).

Under State v. Porter, 241 Conn. 57, 698 A.2d 739 (1997), Connecticut subjects testimony based on novel scientific principles to a Daubert inquiry, but the Sorabella court held that no such hearing was required in Lanning's case, because his testimony did not purport to be scientific. The defendant-appellant urged Sorabella court to adopt Kumho Tire and require Porter hearings for all expert testimony dependent on specialized knowledge, whether scientific or otherwise, but the court declined to do so, on the stated ground that the defendant failed to raise the issue at the trial court level.