Opinion ID: 729726
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: expert testimony on practices of suggestibility in the investigation

Text: 38 At trial, the defense offered the testimony of Dr. Ralph Charles Underwager. Dr. Underwager is a clinical psychologist and has been practicing his profession or teaching psychology for approximately twenty years. He has conducted extensive research and writing in the area of child sex abuse and is familiar with extensive psychological research into this subject during the past ten years. His expertise has not been challenged by the prosecutor, only the substance of his testimony. 39 The crucial question and answer (made by offer of proof) follows: 40 Q And based on your review of [the trial testimony] and your review of the records, all the files in this matter, is it your belief that there's been a practice of suggestibility employed in these techniques? 41 A Yes, sir. 42 (Trial Tr. Vol. IX at 1768.) The state objected to the offer as an area within the province of the jury and not within something that an expert should testify on. (Trial Tr. Vol. IX at 1771.) 43 The court rejected the offer as essentially not the subject of expert testimony and not reliable or relevant under Federal Rule of Evidence 104(a) and confusing and misleading to the jury under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. The court rejected any proposed testimony directly relating to the credibility of the alleged abused victims as witnesses, but more than that barred the expert witness from testifying on whether or not the investigative practices constituted a practice of suggestibility. 44 The court erred in its analysis. The jury needed and was entitled to have this evidence in evaluating whether the sexual abuse testified to by the children actually occurred. The testimony was relevant, proper, in keeping with our case law and crucial to the defense under the circumstances of this case. The denial of that testimony constituted prejudicial error.
45 In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), the Supreme Court addressed the standards of admissibility for scientific evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 702. 11 The Court rejected the general acceptance test for novel scientific testimony from Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923), and asserted flexible guidelines for admissibility of scientific evidence under Rule 702. 46 Under Daubert, the trial judge plays a gatekeeping role, ensuring that all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is both reliable and relevant. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589 n.7, 597. 47 The Daubert opinion emphasized first that the expert must testify to scientific knowledge. [T]he requirement that an expert's testimony pertain to `scientific knowledge' establishes a standard of evidentiary reliability. Id. at 590 & n.9. Knowledge applies to any body of known facts or to any body of ideas inferred from such facts or accepted as truths on good grounds. Id. at 590 (quoting Webster's Third New International Dictionary 1252 (1986)). 48 The Court explained scientific knowledge in terms of a theory or technique that (1) can be and has been tested, (2) has been subjected to peer review, (3) has a known or potential rate of error (when technique is scientific), and (4) has been generally accepted by the scientific community. Id. at 593-94. 49 The touchstone under Rule 702 is reliability. As the opinion states, under the Rules the trial judge must ensure that any and all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable. Id. at 589. 50 Furthermore, the knowledge must assist the trier of fact. That is a relevance issue. Id. at 591. The key question for the trial judge in determining relevance under Federal Rule of Evidence 104(a) 12 is whether the expert proposes to testify to (1) scientific knowledge that (2) will assist the trier of fact to understand or determine a fact in issue. Id. at 592. 51 The Daubert opinion, while dealing with scientific evidence, specifically noted that the discussion was limited to a scientific context that was the nature of the expertise offered in that case. The discussion in the case does not apply to technical, or other specialized knowledge[,] but only to scientific knowledge. Id. at 590 n.8. 52 Here, we deal with a social science in which the research, theories and opinions cannot have the exactness of hard science methodologies such as blood tests, DNA, spectrographic evidence or chemical exposures with which Daubert dealt. As observed in a recent article, Daubert principles may not fully apply to certain social science evidence. 53 Application of Daubert criteria to behavioral and social science evidence, particularly psychological syndromes, is problematic for two reasons: (1) judges' level of understanding of scientific principles and methodology may ill prepare them to evaluate science, including social science, as now required by Daubert and (2) the nature of certain social and behavioral science theories may be inherently inconsistent with Daubert criteria such as falsifiability and error rates. 54 James T. Richardson, et al., The Problems of Applying Daubert to Psychological Syndrome Evidence, 79 Judicature 10, 10-11 (July-Aug. 1995); see also Berry v. City of Detroit, 25 F.3d 1342, 1349 (6th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 902 (1995). But see Rincon v. United States, 114 S.Ct. 41 (1993) (summarily remanding case for reconsideration in light of Daubert where expert testimony about reliability of eye witness testimony at issue). 55 The standard of review for admission of expert testimony is abuse of discretion. See Cook v. American S.S. Co., 53 F.3d 733, 738 (6th Cir. 1995). The Supreme Court recently revisited the abuse of discretion standard in Koon v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 64 U.S.L.W. 4512, 4517 (Jun. 13, 1996): 56 Little turns, however, on whether we label review of this particular question abuse of discretion or de novo, for an abuse of discretion standard does not mean a mistake of law is beyond appellate correction. Cooter & Gell, [496 U.S. 384] 402 (1990). A district court by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law. 496 U.S., at 405. That a departure decision, in an occasional case, may call for a legal determination does not mean, as a consequence, that parts of the review must be labeled de novo while other parts are labeled an abuse of discretion. See id., at 403 (court of appeals should apply a unitary abuse-of-discretion standard). The abuse of discretion standard includes review to determine that the discretion was not guided by erroneous legal conclusions.
57 With this background, we examine Dr. Underwager's foundation and compare that foundation and his commentary on suggestibility with the status as of the time of trial of psychological research and writings concerning child witnesses and their susceptibility to faulty memory. As noted above, in the defense's offer of proof, Dr. Underwager testified outside the presence of the jury that from his review of the files, records and testimony in this matter, there had been a practice of suggestibility employed in these techniques. (Tr. Vol. IX at 1768.) 58 He further testified outside the presence of the jury that Kelson's notes revealed she had exerted a massive influence over the children; she had a powerful prior assumption or conclusion that the children had been abused; and she engaged in highly suggestive and contaminating practices, such as the groups and questioning. Dr. Underwager testified the prosecutor asked the children only if they remembered reporting an incident to a particular individual (FBI agent, social worker, etc.), rather than whether they remembered the incident itself; the prosecutor used exclusively leading questions in the courtroom and the children's comfort level showed they were used to this type of questioning. He testified that studies show that adults almost always rely on leading questions given the task of finding something out from a child. 59 Dr. Underwager found the FBI's use of sexually explicit diagrams very suggestive and leading, and asserted the evidence does not show such diagrams accomplish anything other than to suggest to the child that the interviewer is interested in sexual behavior. 60 He testified that a large body of research shows that the presence at an interview of several adults -- people of relatively high status -- increases the conformity and compliance with what those adults expect from a child. 61 Dr. Underwager testified that the documents from the case files and courtroom testimony suggested to him that powerful and potentially coercive influences had been brought to bear on the small fourand five-year-old children who were taken without notice from their mothers, families and homes, without being told the reasons and kept incommunicado in a strange place where all the people around them urged them to talk about sex abuse. (Tr. Vol. IX at pp. 1768-74.) 62 The district court concluded that this expert testimony was not the sort even contemplated by Daubert, did not pass the initial Rule 104(a) threshold inquiry with regard to either reliability or relevancy, and could well mislead the jury. 63 Here, the court misinterpreted our precedent and applied Daubert incorrectly to bar this evidence. The defense fulfilled the requirements of Daubert. The witness did not purport to testify that witnesses had in fact succumbed to any suggestive aspects of the investigation; only that the investigative means in this case were consistent with the psychological studies that similar techniques operated suggestively on young children. In addition, every condition which Dr. Underwager attempted to testify to as creating a practice of suggestibility has been amply demonstrated in the psychological literature as producing undue suggestibility in children's testimony. The importance and relevance is apparent. 64 The remaining question is whether the answers assist the jury. By excluding the expert testimony, the district court assumed the jury could do without the informed opinion of the expert -- that from the files and records and testimony a practice of suggestibility has been employed in the investigative techniques used on young children. That assumption minimizes almost 100 years of extensive research in this area of psychology -- information which is beyond the knowledge or experience of the average individual.
65 We have examined both the evidence and the literature presented to the district court and conclude that both support the defendants' offer of proof. In particular, the district court made reference to a recent article by Stephen J. Ceci and Maggie Bruck, Suggestibility of Child Witnesses: A Historical Review and Synthesis, 113 Psychological Bulletin 403-439 (1993), which reviews the research and writing on the subject and supports the view that the very matters observed and testified to by Dr. Underwager can produce biased, untrue or false memories in children, and more particularly young children. Almost all the other literature presented to the court is consistent with the Ceci-Bruck article. 66 The Ceci-Bruck article does not state that young children should not testify but observes that many common interviewing practices can produce an altered memory. Among other things, the article documents adequate research indicating the following: 67 1. A subject's, particularly a child's, original verbal answers are better remembered than the actual events themselves, yes-no questioning leads to more error, and young children are particularly vulnerable to coaching and leading questions. Id. at 406-09. 68 A review of the record here reveals the children were asked entirely leading questions in court. Even though the children testified by television outside the presence of defendants, the prosecutor asked suggestive questions. Not only did the questions call only for yes or no answers, the children were asked only if they remembered reporting abuse to law enforcement officers, doctors, and their therapist, rather than whether they remembered the alleged abuse itself. 69 The questioning at trial represents a highly questionable aspect of testifying about an event. This is exactly what Dr. Underwager described in his offer of proof. 70 2. Children desire to comply or cooperate with the respected authority figure interviewer and will attempt to make answers consistent with what they see as the intent of the questioner rather than consistent with their knowledge of the event even if the question is bizarre. Id. at 418-19. Interviewer bias can skew results as a child will often attempt to reflect the interviewer's interpretation of events, particularly when more than one interviewer shares the same presuppositions. Id. at 422. If the interviewer's original perception is incorrect, this can lead to high levels of inaccurate recall. 71 Here, these children were taken from their homes on the basis of a five-year-old's statements, and were placed under the sole supervision and influences of Donna Jordan, Jean Brock, and Ellen Kelson -- interviewers who had decided at the outset that all the children had been sexually abused. 72 The FBI agents were also strong authority figures -- the kind of high status interviewers described by Dr. Underwager -- with preconceived notions about the facts of this case, and they did not interview the children until after the children had been with Jordan for over a week. Agent Van Roe testified that he had explained his status as an FBI agent at the initial interview and told the children that an FBI agent was like a policeman on the reservation. Van Roe testified that Jean Brock and foster mother Donna Jordan remained in the room while FBI agents conducted the initial interviews of the children on January 19 and 21, 1994 -- over a week after the children were taken from their parents' homes, told by Jordan and Brock that this was because their uncles had done bad things to them, and put into the care of Jordan. 73 At this initial interview, R.R. handed investigator Hudspeth a group of papers which reflected things she had previously told foster mother Donna Jordan which Jordan had written down for her. Thus, agents received a frame of reference which could produce bias, even before the start of the interviews. 74 3. Repeated questions can produce a change of answers as the child may interpret the question as I must not have given the correct response the first time, and the child's answers may well become less accurate over time. Id. at 419-20. Repeated questioning of victims often results over time (or even within a single interview) in an inaccurate report. 75 A three-month hiatus existed from the time R.R. was taken from her home to the time of her complaints of sex abuse. These children were repeatedly questioned by Brock, Jordan, Kelson, doctors and law enforcement agents. By March 1994, the children's accounts of the familial sexual abuse were so skewed that the district court refused to admit these interviews into evidence. 76 4. Younger children are more susceptible to suggestibility than older children, especially in the context of stereotyping. Id. at 407, 417. Stereotypes organize memory, sometimes distorting what is perceived by adding thematically congruent information that was not perceived, and stereotype formation interacts with suggestive questioning to a greater extent for younger rather than older children. Id. at 416-17. Studies have shown children are particularly susceptible to an interviewer's bad man stereotype, and when repeatedly told the actor is a bad man, they may construct a false account of an event often embellished with perceptual details in keeping with the stereotype. Id. 77 Here, various persons told the children from the beginning that the defendants were bad and that it would not be safe to go home until the defendants were gone. The children remained isolated from their families and community. 13 The bad man-uncle theme was replayed again and again, including at trial. 14 In addition, the children testified via closed circuit television based on their fear of defendants. While closed circuit television, other security procedures at the courthouse, and disallowing the children to see any family members before the trial did not amount to trial error, those procedures served to reinforce the children's bad men stereotype of their uncles, the defendants. 78 5. The use of anatomical dolls or sexually explicit materials will not necessarily provide reliable evidence as children may be encouraged to engage in sexual play with dolls, etc., even if the child has not been sexually abused, and further no normative data exists on non-abused children's use of dolls. See id. at 423-25. 79 The second law enforcement (January 21) interview took place at the United States Attorney's Office with the Assistant United States Attorney present. The children saw an anatomical drawing of a penis. Later, Kelson utilized play therapy and art media, and apparently dream journals. Dr. Underwager testified that exposing children to these materials suggests to them that the authority figure wants information about sex. 80 6. [A] major conclusion is that contrary to the claims of some, children sometimes lie when the motivational structure is tilted toward lying. Id. at 433. Patterns of bribes for disclosures, implied threats in nondisclosures, or insinuations that peers have already told investigators of suspects' abusive behavior are highly suggestive. Id. at 423. Children will lie for personal gain, and material and psychological rewards need not be of a large magnitude to be effective. Id. 81 Here, the children were promised picnics, vacations and even a chance to return home as a reward for their truthful, successful testimony at trial. They were told they could not go home until their uncles had been successfully removed. Experts are critical of this kind of reward as bribing children to admit abuse or give abuse-consistent answers, such as promising to end the interview, or giving them other tangible rewards. Such techniques affect the accuracy of children's reports. 82 7. Dr. Underwager testified regarding the concept of cross-germination among the children. Children in studies and in actual cases have shown that peer pressure or interaction with other children has effects on the accuracy of their reporting: they will provide an inaccurate response when other children have already told in order to go along with a peer group or be part of the crowd. See id. at 423; see also Stephen J. Ceci, Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's Testimony 146-50 (American Psych. Assoc. 1st ed. 1995). In several cases where convictions have been overturned, children were shown to have talked with one another about the abuse, sometimes even siblings questioned siblings to get them to open up or provide incriminating evidence. Id. at 150-51. 83 As mentioned above, Kelson reported that she talked to the group in talk circle; that the group seemed to have discussed an agenda among themselves each week and that T.R. was the ringleader. Testimony at trial reflects that Jordan, Kelson, and FBI agents spoke to and questioned the children in groups about the abuse. 84 The Ceci-Bruck article's summary relating to interviewing of children stated: 85 The studies on interviewing provide evidence that suggestibility effects are influenced by the dynamics of the interview itself, the knowledge or beliefs possessed by the interviewer (especially one who is unfamiliar with the child), the emotional tone of the questioning, and the props used. Children attempt to be good conversational partners by complying with what they perceive to be the belief of their questioner. Their perceptions, and thus their suggestibility, may be influenced by subtle aspects of the interview such as the repetition of yes-no questions, but their compliance is evidenced most fully in naturalistic interview situations in which the interviewer is allowed to question the child freely; this gives the child the evidence to make the necessary attributions about the purposes of the interview and about the intents and beliefs of the interviewer. 86 Observations of interactions in the legal arena highlight the fact that children who testify in court are not interviewed in sterile conditions such as those found in many of the experiments we have reviewed. They are usually questioned repeatedly within and across sessions, sometimes about an ambiguous event by a variety of interviewers, each with their own agenda and beliefs. Children are sometimes interviewed formally and informally for many months preceding an official law-enforcement interview with anatomical dolls, providing an opportunity for the child to acquire scripted and stereotypical knowledge about what might have occurred. 87 Id. at 425. The authors conclude with these comments: 88 Our review of the literature indicates that children can indeed be led to make false or inaccurate reports about very crucial, personally experienced, central events. 89 . . . . 90 Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to examine the conditions prevalent at the time of a child's original report about a criminal event in order to judge the suitability of using that child as a witness in the court. It seems particularly important to know the circumstances under which the initial report of concern was made, how many times the child was questioned, the hypotheses of the interviewers who questioned the child, the kinds of questions the child was asked, and the consistency of the child's report over a period of time. If the child's disclosure was made in a nonthreatening, nonsuggestible atmosphere, if the disclosure was not made after repeated interviews, if the adults who had access to the child prior to his or her testimony are not motivated to distort the child's recollections through relentless and potent suggestions and outright coaching, and if the child's original report remains highly consistent over a period of time, then the young child would be judged to be capable of providing much that is forensically relevant. The absence of any of these conditions would not in and of itself invalidate a child's testimony, but it ought to raise cautions in the mind of the court. 91 Id. at 432-33. 92 Other psychological research and writing supports the Ceci-Bruck article and Dr. Underwager's offer of proof. See, e.g., Maryland v. Craig, 497 U.S. 836, 868-69 (1990) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (detailing injustice caused by erroneous testimony of children who were separated from their parents for months and repeatedly interrogated and noting [s]ome studies show that children are substantially more vulnerable to suggestion than adults, and often unable to separate recollected fantasy (or suggestion) from reality); Lindsay & Johnson, Reality Monitoring and Suggestibility: Children's Ability to Discriminate Among Memories From Different Sources, in Children's Eyewitness Memory 92 (S. Ceci, M. Toglia, & D. Ross eds. 1987); Christiansen, The Testimony of Child Witnesses: Fact, Fantasy, and the Influence of Pretrial Interviews, 62 Wash. L. Rev. 705, 708-711 (1987); Debbie Nathan, Justice in Wenatchee, N.Y. Times, Dec. 19, 1995, at A19 (testimony of children increasingly being discredited in sex-abuse cases; children who have not been abused sometimes re-enact purported sexual trauma with anatomically detailed dolls or adopt fantasies complete with visceral details when prompted; videotaped pretrial interviews in some cases have helped prompt jurors to acquit defendants); Daniel Goleman, Studies Reveal Suggestibility of Very Young as Witnesses, N. Y. Times, June 11, 1993, at A1. 93 Indeed, the prosecutor's child abuse expert, Tascha Boychuk of the Child's Advocacy Center, Phoenix, Arizona, who testified at a pretrial hearing stated, [i]f the question is can a child's memory be falsified, certainly the probability and the likelihood is yes. We see situations of that. Yes. 94 The reality of children's susceptibility to suggestive interview practices is well-established in the literature and the necessary analysis is beyond the ken of a non-professional. 15 The expert's foundation related the coercive factors that can influence testimony. The defense provided the court with an abundance of literature supporting the expert's explanation relating to the existence of coercive factors in this case. Yet the court declined to allow the testimony. 95
96 Although the district court correctly precluded Dr. Underwager from testifying about the ultimate issue of the children's credibility, he should have been allowed to testify regarding the suggestibility of the techniques employed in this case and whether they could have affected these children's memories. 97 We see no essential difference in this testimony, and in a qualified expert opining that an abuse victim's symptoms are consistent with sexual abuse syndrome, battered woman syndrome, battered child syndrome and other recognized syndromes. See Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 70 (1991) (evidence of battered child syndrome related to intent and its admission did not violate due process); United States v. Norquay, 987 F.2d 475, 479 (8th Cir. 1993) (affirming admittance of expert rape trauma syndrome evidence over defendant's objections that this amounted to admission of others' opinions of victim's credibility because witnesses were not allowed to state whether they believed the victim had indeed been raped), abrogated on other grounds, United States v. Thomas, 20 F.3d 817 (8th Cir. 1994) (en banc); United States v. Simpson, 979 F.2d 1282, 1287-88 (8th Cir. 1992) (recognizing battered woman syndrome), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 943 (1993); United States v. Whitetail, 956 F.2d 857, 859 (8th Cir. 1992) (same); United States v. St. Pierre, 812 F.2d 417, 419-20 (8th Cir. 1987) (expert can inform jury of characteristics found in sexually abused children and describe characteristics alleged victim exhibits). 98 In United States v. Johns, 15 F.3d 740, 743 (8th Cir. 1994), we rejected the defendant's argument that an expert impermissibly vouched for a sexual abuse victim's credibility because implicit in the expert's testimony was the opinion that the victim was telling the truth. We concluded that an expert may inform the jury of the characteristics of sexually abused children generally and may describe characteristics exhibited by the alleged victim, but may not state an opinion that abuse has in fact occurred. Id. Likewise, in United States v. Whitted, 11 F.3d 782, 785 (8th Cir. 1993), we determined that an expert may inform the jury of characteristics found in sexually abused children and describe characteristics the alleged victim exhibits. We stated that expert opinions are not inadmissible merely because they embrace the ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact, but they cannot be phrased in terms of inadequately explored legal criteria or merely tell the jury what result to reach. Id. 99 Finally, in our landmark case of [United States v. Azure, 801 F.2d 336, 340 (8th Cir. 1986)], we stated that general testimony about a [child] victim's ability to separate truth from fantasy, the expression of an opinion on the similarities between a victim's claim and the evidence, and the comparison of behavioral and testimonial patterns of a particular victim with the behavioral patterns observed in victims in general, were all admissible in certain circumstances. Bachman v. Leapley, 953 F.2d 440, 442 (8th Cir. 1992); see also United States v. Plenty Arrows, 946 F.2d 62 (8th Cir. 1989) (no abuse of discretion where district court allowed health therapist to testify that victim's behavior consistent with that of other sexually abused children); Arcoren v. United States, 929 F.2d 1235, 1239-41 (8th Cir. 1991) (expert testimony readily admissible where psychologist testifies to mental aberrations in human behavior, when such knowledge will help jury to understand relevant issues in case, including helping jury to evaluate which of victim's conflicting statements were more credible, and expert does not express her opinion as to which statements were more credible or whether victim suffered from battered woman syndrome), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 913 (1991). 100 Here, Dr. Underwager was not testifying as to whether the children were credible, but rather to whether they were subjected to suggestive practices. The district court erred in excluding that important testimony. 101 In assessing the prejudice from the exclusion of this evidence, we do so against the backdrop of other alleged errors depriving these defendants of a fair trial.