Opinion ID: 2228810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Expert Testimony Regarding Credibility

Text: Defendant contends that the testimony of the victim's psychiatric social worker regarding the victim's counselling experiences and demeanor in the courtroom while testifying was improperly admitted, usurping the jury's function in finding facts and assessing weight and credibility. At trial the victim factually recounted the events that occurred, and her therapist subsequently testified that there was nothing unusual in the victim's rather factual and unemotional rendition and that the victim just wanted to hurry up, tell her story, and not have to deal with it anymore. In Lawrence v. State (1984), Ind., 464 N.E.2d 923, 925, we recognized the special problem of accrediting child witnesses who are called upon to describe sexual conduct: Whenever an alleged child victim takes the witness stand in such cases, the child's capacity to accurately describe a meeting with an adult which may involve touching, sexual stimulation, displays of affection and the like, is automatically in issue, whether or not there is an effort by the opponent of such witness to impeach on the basis of a lack of such capacity. The presence of that issue justifies the court in permitting some accrediting of the child witness in the form of opinions from parents, teachers, and others having adequate experience with the child, that the child is not prone to exaggerate or fantasize about sexual matters. Such opinions will facilitate an original credibility assessment of the child by the trier of fact, so long as they do not take the direct form of I believe the child's story, or In my opinion the child is telling the truth. Similarly, we recently observed in Head v. State (1988), Ind., 519 N.E.2d 151, 153: Although it is entirely proper for the expert witness to state her opinion as to the general competence of the child witness and the child witness's ability to understand the subject, it was entirely improper for that same witness to review each item of the child's testimony and to specifically vouch for the truthfulness of such testimony. Such testimony was an invasion of the province of the jury in determining what weight they would place upon the child's testimony. In the present case, the child victim was under twelve years of age at the time of trial. The psychiatric social worker testified that she had met with the victim on 24 separate occasions for counselling during the prior eight months. The challenged testimony of the social worker witness in this case was not in the nature of that prohibited by Lawrence or Head. It was properly admitted here.