Sunday, November 19, 2006

Error to Permit Child Abuse Expert to Vouch for Victim's Veracity, Says Arkansas Supreme Court

Arkansas's highest court has ruled that a child abuse expert in a rape case should not have been permitted to opine that the complainant was telling the truth -- a fairly standard result, reached here on the fairly standard ground that expert testimony on witness credibility is unhelpful to the trier of fact. The error was held to be harmless. See Buford v. State, No. CR05-1233 (Ark. Nov. 16, 2006).

posted by pn at 6:48 PM  

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Fed. R. Evid. 702: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.