Opinion ID: 1155733
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Admission of Dr. Coleman's testimony

Text: (24) Defendant next contends the court erred in permitting Dr. Lee Coleman, a physician specializing in psychiatry, to testify at the penalty phase regarding the doubtful value of certain psychiatric testimony. This testimony followed that of the defense psychiatrists, Drs. Mayland and Huff, reviewing defendant's psychological development and predicting his ability to function well in prison if sentenced to a life term without possibility of parole. To rebut the foregoing testimony, the prosecutor elicited from Dr. Coleman his opinion that psychiatric testimony is generally neither reliable nor scientific; that forensic psychiatrists have no particular expertise or skills in predicting future violent behavior; that a psychiatrist is subject to high risks of being manipulated by his patient, and that accordingly a psychiatrist's evaluation of such matters as a criminal defendant's credibility, motivation or remorse, based merely on a psychiatric examination or interview with him, is no more reliable than the evaluation that could be formed by a layperson or juror directly confronting the evidence. In Dr. Coleman's view, the best way to evaluate a defendant's credibility or motives is simply to look at the evidence, listen to the witnesses, and decide the issue on the basis of the facts in the case. On several occasions, Dr. Coleman stressed that he is not suggesting that courts should bar psychiatrists from the courtroom, because he acknowledged that current law allows them to testify. But, according to Dr. Coleman, in evaluating the credibility of psychiatric testimony, the court and jury should be permitted to take into account its considerable shortcomings. Initially, it appears defendant has waived his present challenge to Dr. Coleman's testimony by failing to secure a ruling on his objection at trial. When Dr. Coleman was first asked his opinion regarding the reliability of psychiatric testimony, defense counsel remained silent and failed to object. After Dr. Coleman responded, summarizing his view that such testimony was unreliable, the prosecutor asked, And then why are you here testifying then? Dr. Coleman responded that the purpose of his forthcoming testimony would be to testify about that (i.e., the unreliability of psychiatric testimony), and only then did defense counsel object on the basis that such testimony would be irrelevant and a legal conclusion. The trial court sustained the objection as it pertained to the last question posed by the prosecutor on the sole basis that The reason why he's [Dr. Coleman] here is to answer questions you're going to ask him. So go ahead and ask your questions. The court did not rule on the issue of the admissibility of Dr. Coleman's proposed testimony, and defense counsel did not request a ruling on his objection. Thereafter, Dr. Coleman stated at length his view of the unreliability of psychiatric testimony, without objection by defense counsel on grounds of inadmissibility. (Counsel did pose a few objections on other grounds.) Thus, defendant has waived the issue on appeal by failing to request a ruling on his earlier objection or by renewing that objection. (See People v. Rhodes (1989) 212 Cal. App.3d 541, 554 [261 Cal. Rptr. 1], and authorities cited.). But assuming, arguendo, no such waiver occurred, we find no error in admitting Dr. Coleman's testimony. Defendant asserts this testimony, being a generalized attack on the propriety of forensic psychiatric testimony, was irrelevant to the issues once the court had determined that Drs. Huff and Mayland were competent and qualified to testify as experts. According to defendant, Dr. Coleman's testimony was contrary to state and federal law recognizing that psychiatric opinions may be helpful to the court and jury. (See, e.g., § 987.9; Ake v. Oklahoma (1985) 470 U.S. 68 [84 L.Ed.2d 53, 105 S.Ct. 1087]; People v. Worthy (1980) 109 Cal. App.3d 514 [167 Cal. Rptr. 402].) We had occasion to consider similar testimony by Dr. Coleman in People v. Babbitt (1988) 45 Cal.3d 660, 698-700 [248 Cal. Rptr. 69, 755 P.2d 253] (hereafter Babbitt ), in the course of ruling on a claim of prosecutorial misconduct arising from the prosecutor's reliance on Dr. Coleman's testimony to disparage opinions by defense experts. In Babbitt, we summarized the gist of that testimony (which cast doubt on the ability of psychiatrists and psychologists to form helpful opinions regarding a criminal defendant's mental state), and concluded, Viewed in the context of Dr. Coleman's testimony, the prosecutor's comments disparaging the expertise of the defense psychologist and psychiatrist to form an opinion about defendant's mental state were based on the evidence. The comments went to the weight of the witnesses' testimony, not its admissibility. The remarks therefore were not improper. [Citations]. (45 Cal.3d at p. 699; italics added.) At no point in our opinion did we suggest that Dr. Coleman's testimony was improper or inadmissible. In Babbitt, we noted that additional remarks by the prosecutor, labelling psychiatric courtroom testimony a social cancer, approached misconduct, constituting a general attack against forensic psychiatry. We observed that The law permits a defendant to assert a psychiatric defense and to have expert witnesses testify in his behalf. The courtroom is not the proper forum to challenge the propriety of this system. (45 Cal.3d at p. 700.) We also noted, however, that the prosecutor's remarks were nonprejudicial because neither the prosecutor nor Dr. Coleman asked the jury to disregard psychiatric opinion, for both realized the law permits the jury to consider it. In addition, the court had instructed the jury that the law permitted expert evidence on the issue of defendant's mental state and the jury was told to give that testimony the weight to which to which the jury found it entitled. ( Ibid. ) Similar considerations lead us to conclude that admission of Dr. Coleman's testimony in this case was neither improper nor prejudicial. As indicated above, as in Babbitt, Dr. Coleman freely conceded that he was not suggesting that courts should bar psychiatrists from the courtroom, because present law allows them to testify and permits the jury to consider their opinions. His criticism of forensic psychiatry, and specifically the opinions of Drs. Huff and Mayland, thus went more to the weight of those opinions rather than their admissibility. (See Babbitt, 45 Cal.3d at p. 699; see also People v. Prince (1988) 203 Cal. App.3d 848, 857-858 [250 Cal. Rptr. 154] [upholding admissibility of similar testimony by Dr. Coleman as relevant to the weight and credibility accorded defense experts]; State v. Zespy (Wyo. 1986) 723 P.2d 564, 568 [same].) Moreover, as in Babbitt, the trial court herein instructed the jury that a duly qualified expert (such as Dr. Huff or Dr. Mayland) was entitled to state an opinion on a matter at issue in the trial. Additionally, the jury was instructed that it was not bound to accept an expert opinion (such as Dr. Coleman's) as true and was entitled to disregard it if unreasonable. Thus, again as in Babbitt, any impropriety in Dr. Coleman's testimony must be deemed clearly nonprejudicial. ( Babbitt, 45 Cal.3d at p. 700.)