Opinion ID: 1427690
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: psychological examination of the rounsaville children

Text: My disagreement and dissent on the first issue of the psychological examination of the children does not foreclose the exercise of discretion. With discretion recognized, I perceive improper exercise. The rationale of the majority completely misses the logic and ratio decidendi of the voluminous case law. The proper inquiry should be exercised discretion to search for the truth when it is uncontroverted that Gene and Linda Rounsaville both committed perjury at trial. The majority seeks to reconstruct the case of Ballard v. Superior Court of San Diego County, 64 Cal.2d 159, 49 Cal. Rptr. 302, 410 P.2d 838 (1966) into a credibility analysis. I pursue a competency inquiry definable within the complexity of historical occurrences. The minimum protection afforded to sex offense charged defendants only denies prosecution expert testimony about credibility, while we admit W.R.E. 404(b) character evidence with profusion. Those considerations are now extended in this decision to pretrial examinations which is a different decision from the admissibility of tendered evidence. If the general thesis advanced by the majority is valid, medical and psychological assistance to young victims as helpful in analysis for prosecution should never have been permitted. Cf. McCord, Expert Psychological Testimony About Child Complainants in Sexual Abuse Prosecutions: A Foray Into the Admissibility of Novel Psychological Evidence, 77 J.Crim.L. & Criminology 1 (1986). This majority switches justification from pretrial case and status development to apply rules relating to the introduction of expert opinions. We would have got from here to there only if the motion had been granted, the examinations conducted and the expert was then presented to testify, in his opinion, that the criminal offense never occurred. If justice is a system of proper investigation and case development and presentation of relevant and material evidence to the fact finder, the principle is misunderstood or ignored here. Justice cannot be addressed adequately if the prosecution is given investigatory access and opportunity. [4] Exercise of discretion for this case is confined by facts where information is indispensable for trial preparation. Access to required information for trial preparation is the essence of the trial court's decision. Discretion fails where unequal rights between prosecution and defense result. Fairness, as a principle, demands an opportunity for adequate factual development by either litigant. People v. Hunter, 374 Mich. 129, 132 N.W.2d 95 (1965); State v. Franklin, 49 N.J. 286, 229 A.2d 657 (1967); State v. Butler, 27 N.J. 560, 143 A.2d 530 (1958). Three separate choices for consideration of psychiatric examination are generally revealed by present rules of civil procedure and criminal law applications. The first is to deny discretion to the trial court to approve that requirement for the complainant. The second considers that the issue is soundly bounded in exercised discretion. [5] Finally, the third would prove a defendant's right to secure the examination. Dr. Gale does not contend that discretion did not exist. Rather, he argues that the decision is factually unrelated to the case and the request was improperly denied as abused discretion. The holding of the majority is confusing in intermixing absence of discretion with exercise of discretion in first rejecting the discretion cases of People v. Russel, 69 Cal.2d 187, 70 Cal. Rptr. 210, 443 P.2d 794, cert. denied 393 U.S. 864, 89 S.Ct. 145, 21 L.Ed.2d 132 (1968) and Ballard, 49 Cal. Rptr. 302, 410 P.2d 838 and then conceding that the trial court acted under its discretion. There will likely be few if any fact sensitive cases comparable to this unbelievable and clearly perjury pervaded trial scenario. That some of the witnesses lied comprehensively cannot be questioned, that Gene and Linda Rounsaville committed significant misstatements cannot be challenged, and that the meeting scripted for August 30 did not occur is dispositively authenticated. If the majority were to say that the State in prosecution cannot secure psychiatric testimony by medical witnesses for case presentation, then equivalency for denial to the defendant would at least exist. That is neither the general law nor well-followed Wyoming precedent. I agree with Dr. Gale that the decision of whether psychiatric evaluation should be required is a matter of discretion and, if discretion was exercised here, the denial was improper as abused. [6] We do not proceed into a subject of first impression. Generally, see Annotation, Necessity or Permissibility of Mental Examination to Determine Competency or Credibility of Complainant in Sexual Offense Prosecution, 45 A.L.R.4th 310 (1986). [7] The similar case was Ballard, 49 Cal. Rptr. at 313, 410 P.2d at 849 (emphasis in original and footnotes omitted): Rather than formulate a fixed rule in this matter we believe that discretion should repose in the trial judge to order a psychiatric examination of the complaining witness in a case involving a sex violation if the defendant presents a compelling reason for such an examination. The Supreme Court of South Dakota recently stated, In an article entitled Psychiatric Opinions as to Credibility of Witnesses: A Suggested Approach, in Vol. 48, Cal.L.Rev. 648 at page 663, this conclusion is reached: `Most of the courts which have dealt with this problem have recognized the authority of the trial judge to order a psychiatric examination of a witness on the question of credibility. The principle established by the majority of the cases is that the judge has the discretion to order such an examination, although the failure to do so has rarely been held an abuse of discretion.' We are not aware of any good reason why that should not be the rule concerning complaining witnesses in sex offenses. ( State v. Klueber, supra, [81 S.D. 223], 132 N.W.2d 847, 850 (1965);   .) We therefore believe that the trial judge should be authorized to order the prosecutrix to submit to a psychiatric examination if the circumstances indicate a necessity for an examination. Such necessity would generally arise only if little or no corroboration supported the charge and if the defense raised the issue of the effect of the complaining witness' mental or emotional condition upon her veracity. Thus, in rejecting the polar extremes of an absolute prohibition and an absolute requirement that the prosecutrix submit to a psychiatric examination, we have accepted a middle ground, placing the matter in the discretion of the trial judge. See likewise the Kansas court in State v. Gregg, 226 Kan. 481, 602 P.2d 85, 91 (1979): We, too, adopt the middle ground and hold a trial judge has the discretion to order a psychiatric examination of the complaining witness in a sex crime case if the defendant presents a compelling reason for such examination. Even if a trial court finds a compelling reason for ordering the psychiatric examination, the further safeguard as to its admissibility remains. The voluntary confession case of State v. Jerousek, 121 Ariz. 420, 590 P.2d 1366, 1371 (1979) does not reveal a contrary persuasion in the conclusion: The need for a psychiatric examination of a victim of a sex crime would generally arise only if little or no corroboration supported the charge and if the defense raised the issue of the effect of the complaining witness' mental or emotional condition upon her veracity. (Emphasis added.) Ballard, 64 Cal.2d 159, 176, 49 Cal. Rptr. 302, 313, 410 P.2d 838, 849. In the instant case, the victim's testimony was corroborated not only by the defendant's confession but by the testimony of several neighborhood children. (The competency of these children was not challenged.) It was, therefore, not an abuse of the trial court's discretion to find a psychiatric examination of the victim unnecessary. Proper exercised discretion was found by the appellate court in the consent contested rape case of Government of Virgin Islands v. Scuito, 623 F.2d 869 (3rd Cir.1980). Special circumstances for exercised discretion were also found to be absent in People v. Estorga, 200 Colo. 78, 612 P.2d 520 (1980). See, likewise, People v. Piro, 671 P.2d 1341 (Colo. App. 1983). The second significant case which clarified the two-stage decisional process is Russel, 70 Cal. Rptr. 210, 443 P.2d 794. The reasoning for this majority to reject Russel lacks clarity. The Russel court recognized the involvement of discretion in a first decision whether the psychological examination of the complainant would be ordered if requested by the defendant. The test was exercised discretion with evidentiary factors to be weighed in decision. Id., 70 Cal. Rptr. at 216 n. 8, 443 P.2d at 800 n. 8. Then only is a decision presented whether admissible testimony might be tendered at trial. That decision is just not present here since the examination was not first permitted. Relevancy and materiality of tendered evidence is totally academic. Actually, defendant's initial interest was discovery and rights of effective cross-examination with the constitutional guaranty of confrontation. If we accept Dr. Gale's contention as attempted trial preparation that the children would lie  he wanted to know why. In regard to discretion, the court in Russel, 70 Cal. Rptr. at 215-216, 443 P.2d at 799-800 comprehensively analyzed: We have explicated the concept of judicial discretion on innumerable occasions and in a variety of factual contexts. Obviously the term is a broad and elastic one (see 27 C.J.S. p. 292) which we have equated with the sound judgment of the court, to be exercised according to the rules of law. ( Lent v. Tillson (1887) 72 Cal. 404, 422, 14 P. 71, 78.) We have also declared that the only limitation that the law had placed upon the exercise of discretionary judicial power is that it must not be abused. ( Clavey v. Lord (1891) 87 Cal. 413, 419, 25 P. 493, 495, observing at the same time that it may be difficult to define exactly what is meant by abuse of judicial discretion    (idem). However we have said: `In a legal sense discretion is abused whenever in the exercise of its discretion the court exceeds the bounds of reason, all of the circumstances before it being considered.' ( State Farm, etc., Ins. Co. v. Superior Court (1956) 47 Cal.2d 428, 432, 304 P.2d 13, 15, quoting Berry v. Chaplin (1946) 74 Cal. App.2d 669, 672, 169 P.2d 453; see also Continental Baking Co. v. Katz (1968) 68 A.C. 527, 542, 67 Cal. Rptr. 761, 439 P.2d 889 and cases therein cited.) The courts have never ascribed to judicial discretion a potential without restraint. In the early case of Bailey v. Taaffe (1866) 29 Cal. 423, at page 424, this court took pains to delineate limits of judicial discretion in the following terms: The discretion intended, however, is not a capricious or arbitrary discretion, but an impartial discretion, guided and controlled in its exercise by fixed legal principles. It is not a mental discretion, to be exercised ex gratia, but a legal discretion, to be exercised in conformity with the spirit of the law, and in a manner to subserve and not to impede or defeat the ends of substantial justice. Similar standards were expressed in Gossman v. Gossman (1942) 52 Cal. App.2d 184, 195, 126 P.2d 178, 184, where the court quoted from Davis v. Boston Elevated Ry. Co. (1920) 235 Mass. 482, 496-497, 126 N.E. 841 as follows: `The word imports the exercise of discriminating judgment within the bounds of reason. Discretion in this connection means a sound judicial discretion, enlightened by intelligence and learning, controlled by sound principles of law, of firm courage combined with the calmness of a cool mind, free from partiality, not swayed by sympathy nor warped by prejudice nor moved by any kind of influence save alone the overwhelming passion to do that which is just.' The foregoing authorities, and particularly the passages quoted from Bailey and Gossman, make it quite clear, we think, that all exercises of legal discretion must be grounded in reasoned judgment and guided by legal principles and policies appropriate to the particular matter at issue. We shall here undertake to briefly outline some of the considerations relevant to discretionary determinations concerning the production and admission of psychiatric evidence bearing on credibility. With decision made for the examination then merged in review to relate connection between the examination decision and the admissibility of evidence, it was stated: In our Ballard opinion we set forth in a footnote (which is quoted in relevant part in the margin) some of the dangers involved in the use of psychiatric evidence to impeach credibility. As we there suggested, each of the considerations indicated is a factor to be weighed by the court at some point in the course of its overall determinations relative to the production and admission of such evidence. It must be observed, however, that some of these factors pertain for the most part to determinations undertaken at the time of passing upon the motion for examination, while some are peculiarly relevant to determinations undertaken when the products of an ordered examination are sought to be introduced into evidence.       When such an examination has been ordered by the court, however, and evidence based upon it is sought to be introduced, the court must address it[s]elf to considerations dealing with the specific evidence offered. Id., 70 Cal. Rptr. at 216, 443 P.2d at 800 (emphasis in original and footnotes omitted). The court in Russel was not presented with a challenge for improper discretion in sustaining the ordered examination since it was permitted and only based the decision on denied admissibility which provided the basis for conviction reversal. Cf. State v. Boutwell, 18 Conn. App. 273, 558 A.2d 244, certification denied 212 Conn. 803, 561 A.2d 945 (1989), admissibility review. Case law which has followed the Ballard test includes Pickens v. State, 675 P.2d 665, 669 (Alaska App. 1984) in examining a basis for a specific showing of need and that the complainant's testimony was uncorroborated or otherwise untrustworthy. The basic prerequisite for the requirement of an examination considered that the court be sensitive to the privacy interests of the witnesses generally and reluctant to permit inquiry into a witness's mental health history absent a clear indication of relevance. Id. at 669. See also Murphy v. Superior Court In and For Maricopa County, 142 Ariz. 273, 689 P.2d 532 (1984); State v. Wahrlich, 105 Ariz. 102, 459 P.2d 727 (1969); McDonald v. State, 307 A.2d 796 (Del.Super. 1973); Dinkins v. State, 244 So.2d 148 (Fla.App. 1971); State v. Kahinu, 53 Haw. 536, 498 P.2d 635 (1972), cert. denied 409 U.S. 1126, 93 S.Ct. 944, 35 L.Ed.2d 258 (1973); People v. Visgar, 120 Ill. App.3d 584, 75 Ill.Dec. 784, 457 N.E.2d 1343 (1983); People v. Glover, 49 Ill.2d 78, 273 N.E.2d 367 (1971), involving discretionary denial where no compelling reason advanced for the examination; Easterday v. State, 254 Ind. 13, 256 N.E.2d 901 (1970); State v. Sullivan, 360 N.W.2d 418 (Minn. App. 1985); State v. Boisvert, 119 N.H. 174, 400 A.2d 48 (1979); State v. R.W., 104 N.J. 14, 514 A.2d 1287 (1986); State v. Romero, 94 N.M. 22, 606 P.2d 1116 (1980); State v. Clasey, 252 Or. 22, 446 P.2d 116 (1968); State v. Klueber, 81 S.D. 223, 132 N.W.2d 847 (1965); State v. Ayers, 369 S.E.2d 22, 27 n. 4 (W. Va. 1988) as a discretion to deny second examination by a motion inadequately documented; and State v. Miller, 35 Wis.2d 454, 151 N.W.2d 157 (1967). The majority's posture is surveyed in State v. Walker, 506 A.2d 1143, 1147 (Me. 1986) which recognized that [c]ourts in most states have held that the grant or denial of a motion to compel victims of sex abuse to submit to psychological testing rests within the sound discretion of the trial judge. Authority to order examination in these courts is not at issue, only discretional exercise. See Franklin, 229 A.2d 657. It is recognized there are cases essentially rejecting authority to order the examination. See State v. Looney, 294 N.C. 1, 240 S.E.2d 612 (1978), suggesting statutory application. [8] Likewise, in State v. Liddell, 211 Mont. 180, 685 P.2d 918 (1984), the court permitted the state to provide rape trauma syndrome expert witness testimony, but denied expert witness examination requested by the defendant. See also Com. v. Widrick, 392 Mass. 884, 467 N.E.2d 1353 (1984); People v. Souvenir, 83 Misc.2d 1038, 373 N.Y.S.2d 824 (1975); and State v. Lairby, 699 P.2d 1187 (Utah 1984). The posture of this line of cases denying any discretion of the trial court to order the examination is clearly the minority approach in jurisdictions in which it is considered. See, generally, cases listed in Franklin, 229 A.2d 657 and Annotation, supra, 45 A.L.R.4th 310. I am neither bothered nor bewildered by application of the strong requirements for demonstration of justification including either a compelling reason from Ballard, 49 Cal. Rptr. 302, 410 P.2d 838 or a specific showing of need from Pickens, 675 P.2d 665. In this case, however, first following the majority's consideration of discretion, I would find an adequately demonstrated basis and consequent abuse of discretion in denial under these circumstances. Need remains to address the conjecture of the majority that the allowance as discretion is foreclosed by earlier Wyoming precedent. Dual misapprehensions are invoked in that contention. In first consideration, the present issue is not admissibility of evidence, Russel, 70 Cal. Rptr. 210, 443 P.2d 794, but examination prior to trial. In second misconstruction, the question of what opinion evidence may be admissible need not expire on the logic of Zabel v. State, 765 P.2d 357 (Wyo. 1988) with which I concurred. I have strongly dissented, in prior unsuccessful arguments, to a whole series of prosecutorial expert witnesses which are used to corroborate the complainant's testimony. Brown v. State, 736 P.2d 1110 (Wyo. 1987). That posture on the Zabel rule does not rationally decide the constitutional rights of Dr. Gale. Since we are not presented with evidence admissibility questions, a close look at Zabel, 765 P.2d 357 as well as Griego v. State, 761 P.2d 973 (Wyo. 1988); Brown, 736 P.2d 1110; Scadden v. State, 732 P.2d 1036 (Wyo. 1987); Lessard v. State, 719 P.2d 227 (Wyo. 1986); and United States v. Azure, 801 F.2d 336 (8th Cir.1986), provide no authority for a denial of pretrial examination. How and to what extent the expert witness might testify is not presented on appeal. See, however, Russel, 70 Cal. Rptr. 210, 443 P.2d 794; Easterday, 256 N.E.2d 901; and Butler, 143 A.2d 530. At this juncture, the issue was due process in adequacy of information for proper trial preparation. United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985); Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972); Brady v. State of Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Cf. State v. Hennum, 441 N.W.2d 793 (Minn. 1989), where the court first rejected admissibility of battered woman syndrome evidence particularized to the defendant and then rejected right of prosecution to obtain her mental examination.