Opinion ID: 2159715
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Carmeta Albarus' Testimony

Text: Albarus testified as a mitigation specialist. [4] She acknowledged that a full psycho-social history had not been completed but narrated the basic story recounted by the DiFrisco family including Fred DiFrisco Sr.'s life-long emotional unavailability to DiFrisco; his mother's depression; the history of drug abuse among all of the DiFrisco boys, including the 1987 death of the eldest son, Richard, by overdose. Finally, she briefly discussed DiFrisco's relationship with Franciotti, stating that Franciotti supplied DiFrisco with drugs. Albarus was discredited as a witness when the prosecutor elicited that she did not have an undergraduate degree in psychology, let alone an advanced degree of any kind, and that she lacked training in substance abuse. She was further impeached based on the contrast between her lack of qualifications and the credentials of Ms. Alfonso. Finally, when the prosecutor elicited that the expert report submitted by Albarus was virtually identical to the prior report submitted by Ms. Alfonso, it left the jury with the negativebut accurateimpression that Albarus had adopted the findings of her supervisor, simply reproducing and signing Alfonso's report and presenting it as her own.