Opinion ID: 1928081
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Payment of Expert Witness Expenses

Text: Appellant argues that the trial court improperly denied his motion for the payment of expert witness expenses with respect to an expert on eyewitness identification. Appellant contends that as eyewitness testimony was critical to the Commonwealth's case, an expert in the field of psychology of eyewitness testimony was necessary. The decision to appoint an expert witness is within the sound discretion of the trial court. The trial court's determination will not be disturbed except for a clear abuse of that discretion. Carter, 537 Pa. at 257, 643 A.2d at 73. However, in a capital case such as this, a defendant is entitled to the assistance of experts necessary to prepare a defense. Id. Here, the trial court granted Appellant's request for funding for experts in the fields of ballistics, fingerprints, serology, and hair and fiber analysis. However, the trial court denied Appellant's request for funds for experts in the fields of forensic pathology and the psychology of eyewitness testimony, thereby finding such experts to be unnecessary. In the capital case of Commonwealth v. Simmons, 541 Pa. 211, 230, 662 A.2d 621, 630-31 (1995) we recently addressed the issue of whether the trial court's exclusion of an expert in the field of eyewitness identification was proper. As we stated in Simmons, testimony concerning the reliability of eyewitness identification by appellant's expert would have given an unwarranted appearance of authority as to the subject of credibility, a subject which an ordinary juror can assess. Moreover, appellant was free to and did attack the witnesses' credibility and point out inconsistencies of all the eyewitnesses at trial through cross-examination and in his closing argument. Simmons, 541 Pa. at 230, 662 A.2d at 631. Our analysis in Simmons is instructive for our determination of the necessity of an expert in eyewitness testimony. For the reasons offered in Simmons, we find that the trial court properly determined that an expert on the psychology of eyewitness identification was not necessary for the preparation of a defense, and that therefore, the trial court properly denied Appellant's request for expert witness fees.