Opinion ID: 1817858
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: richard a.p./admissibility of profile evidence

Text: [1] ¶ 9. We begin by examining an issue presented in Richard A.P., that is, whether a defendant may present expert testimony to show that the defendant lacks the characteristics of a sexual offender and is therefore unlikely to have committed the alleged sexual assault. Whether this evidence is generally admissible under our state's rules of evidence is a question of law that we decide de novo. See State v. Flattum, 122 Wis. 2d 282, 305-06, 361 N.W.2d 705 (1985). ¶ 10. In Richard A.P., Richard was charged and convicted for sexual contact with a child and for intimidation of a victim. Richard A.P., 223 Wis. 2d at 779. Before trial, Richard filed a motion in limine requesting permission to introduce expert testimony from a psychologist who had evaluated Richard. Id. at 790-91. The motion alleged that the psychologist would testify that `[Richard's] sexual history and his responses to specific testing about his sexual behavior did not show any evidence of any diagnosable sexual disorder.' Id. at 791. The psychologist would then testify that, absent such a diagnosable disorder, it is unlikely that Richard would have molested the child. Id. The circuit court denied admission of the psychologist's testimony because the psychologist could not say that the absence of any sexual disorder made it impossible for Richard to have committed the crime. Id. at 791-92. Richard appealed this evidentiary determination. Id. at 779-80. ¶ 11. On appeal, the State conceded that the circuit court's reason for denying admissibility was incorrect. Id. at 792. Still, the State argued that the circuit court did not err in denying admission of this evidence because such testimony was not admissible character evidence. Id. The court of appeals concluded otherwise, holding that such evidence was relevant and admissible under the rule governing expert testimony operating in tandem with the rule governing character evidence. Id. at 795. ¶ 12. In reaching this conclusion, the court first looked to the law governing expert testimony. It noted that expert testimony is admissible `if it is relevant' and if it will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue. Id. at 791 (citation omitted). The court concluded that the expert's testimony in its case was admissible because it would have assisted the jury in determining whether Richard committed the charged offense by providing expert opinion on the likelihood that Richard committed the crime in light of his psychological profile. Id. at 792. ¶ 13. The court also examined the law governing character evidence, which allows the defendant to present evidence of any pertinent trait of his or her character. Id. at 792-93. Such evidence, it noted, could be presented through testimony as to reputation or by testimony in the form of an opinion. Id. at 793. Richard sought to introduce his expert testimony in order to show that he did not exhibit character traits consistent with a sexual disorder. The court noted that such expert testimony had been used in other cases to inform jurors of the behavior profiles of the victims of crimes. Id. at 793-94 (citing State v. Pulizzano, 155 Wis. 2d 633, 657-58, 456 N.W.2d 325 (1990) (the court suggested that profile evidence pertaining to battered woman's syndrome may be admissible if supported by expert testimony); King v. State, 75 Wis. 2d 26, 38-39, 248 N.W.2d 458 (1977) (the court ruled that expert opinion testimony concerning the defendant's general character trait of nonhostility and nonaggressiveness was admissible)). The court upheld the admissibility and relevancy of the evidence. ¶ 14. The State contends that Richard A.P. should be overturned because this type of evidence has low probative value and is substantially outweighed by dangers presented by this evidence. It argues that only two other states have allowed such evidence, see People v. Stoll, 783 P.2d 698 (Cal. 1989), and Nolte v. State, 854 S.W.2d 304 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993), and that a majority of other states have excluded such evidence, in some instances because of its low probative value, see, e.g., State v. Floray, 715 A.2d 855 (Del. Super. Ct. 1997). Based on this low probative value and the inherent dangers involved, the State urges us to follow cases in which the court has excluded evidence on public policy grounds. See State v. Peters, 192 Wis. 2d 674, 689 n.8, 534 N.W.2d 867 (Ct. App. 1995) (citing two examples of such public policy determinations: State v. Dean, 103 Wis. 2d 228, 307 N.W.2d 628 (1981) (prohibiting the admission of polygraph test results in criminal cases) and Steele v. State, 97 Wis. 2d 72, 294 N.W.2d 2 (1980) (expert psychiatric testimony regarding a defendant's capacity to form intent held inadmissible when based on the defendant's mental health history)). The State argues that a case-by-case determination on admissibility should be avoided because it would be too burden-some and would outweigh any probative value of the evidence. [2] ¶ 15. We conclude that a blanket restriction on Richard A.P. evidence is unwarranted. Discretion to admit or exclude such evidence remains with the circuit court. We agree with the conclusions reached by the court of appeals in Richard A.P. and specifically adopt its reasoning. [3-6] ¶ 16. The rules on character evidence and expert testimony allow for the admissibility of Richard A.P. evidence. Under our rules of evidence, a defendant may introduce pertinent trait[s] of his or her character as evidence. Wis. Stat. § 904.04(1)(a). Pertinent refers to the relevance of the traits. 7 Daniel Blinka, Wisconsin Practice: Wisconsin Evidence § 404.4, at 133 (2d ed. 2001). Thus, like all admissible evidence, character evidence must be relevant to the facts at issue. Relevancy has two facets: (1) the evidence must relate to a fact or proposition that is of consequence to the determination of the action and (2) the evidence must have probative value, that is, a tendency to establish those consequential propositions. Id. at § 401.1 at 82. A defendant may introduce such relevant character evidence through opinion testimony. Wis. Stat. § 904.05(1). [7-9] ¶ 17. Expert testimony is permitted when specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact. See Wis. Stat. § 907.02. Again, relevancy of the testimony is an essential requirement for the admissibility of such expert testimony. Blinka, supra, § 702.2, at 473. In addition, admissibility of the expert testimony depends on the qualifications of the expert and the usefulness of the testimony to the trier of fact. Id. The testimony is useful if it will assist the trier of fact to understand evidence or to determine a fact in issue. Id.; Wis. Stat. § 907.02. ¶ 18. Davis's expert will allegedly testify to the general character traits of sexual offenders, the tests used to determine whether an individual possesses such character traits, his findings on whether Davis possesses such character traits, and, based on these results, the likelihood that Davis committed the sexual assault. Such traits regarding the defendant's propensity to commit sexual assault are pertinent traits of his character. This evidence relates to a consequential fact, that is, whether the defendant committed sexual misconduct with a child. Further, this evidence has probative value in sexual assault cases, where there is often no neutral witness to the assault and there is seldom any physical evidence implicating the defendant. Such profile evidence may be extremely important to the defense. Such testimony may also be useful to the trier of fact, helping it to determine a fact in issue, that is, whether the defendant committed the crime, by showing circumstantial evidence of the defendant's innocence. ¶ 19. Indeed, as the State contends, such evidence is not typical character evidence. This evidence must be presented through expert testimony due to the specialized nature of the character profiles. Typically, character witnesses will consist of lay witnesses who testify to the defendant's character in the community based on their knowledge of the defendant prior to the commission of the crime. However, the statutory language contains broad language to include all pertinent trait[s] of the defendant's character, regardless of whether this character evidence is founded on knowledge prior to the alleged assault or based on tests conducted after criminal charges have been filed. Further, Wisconsin has traditionally provided broad admissibility to expert testimony. State v. St. George, 2002 WI 50, ¶ 39, 252 Wis. 2d 499, 643 N.W.2d 777. ¶ 20. The State warns that allowing such evidence leads to a battle of experts on an issue that is not central to the case. However, a battle between experts is a frequent occurrence in criminal cases where specialized knowledge on a relevant issue is required. In such cases, Richard A.P. evidence may be highly relevant. We therefore find this argument unpersuasive. [10] ¶ 21. The State also asserts that such expert testimony wastes the jury's time and may mislead the jury into thinking that reasonable doubt is present because the defendant lacks the character traits of a sexual offender. However, the fact that the defendant may not possess the relevant character traits of a sexual offender will not necessarily lead to an impermissible inference of reasonable doubt. We entrust the circuit court to act as gatekeepers to unduly prejudicial evidence in this respect, and when admitted, we conclude that juries, in light of an instruction from the court, will afford the proper weight to such evidence on character traits which is admitted to show circumstantial evidence that the defendant is not guilty. We recognize that impermissible inferences may be more likely to occur in instances where the expert testifies that, based on his or her lack of character traits of a sexual offender, the defendant is unlikely to have committed the crime. It therefore must be emphasized that the circuit court retains discretion in admitting such evidence and must carefully scrutinize such Richard A.P. expert testimony in each case for its admissibility. [11, 12] ¶ 22. Finally, the State warns that such evidence should be inadmissible because it lacks reliability. Sexual offenders, the State asserts, are such a heterogeneous group and share so few characteristics that such evidence will not help the jury. Further, they contend that there are no psychological tests that can accurately determine whether a person will or will not sexually abuse a child. As Davis points out however, in Wisconsin, the reliability of expert testimony is an issue for the trier of fact, not the circuit court as a predicate for admissibility. Peters, 192 Wis. 2d at 690. Reliability of expert testimony is something that is subject to challenge on cross-examination in Wisconsin. Id. The trier of fact must then determine the reliability of such evidence in light of differing opinions by experts. See Dean, 103 Wis. 2d at 262. For this reason, we leave any determination on reliability of such evidence to the trier of fact. ¶ 23. Other jurisdictions limit Richard A.P. -type evidence based most often on its reliability. See, e.g., State v. Cavallo, 443 A.2d 1020, 1026-29 (N.J. 1982); but see, Floray, 715 A.2d at 859-60 (courts also often limit such evidence based on its own state rules governing character evidence). The test in Wisconsin, however, is one of relevance, and under our state rules, we find that such evidence may be admissible. Our decision is supported by California decisions, which also similarly find such evidence may be admissible as character evidence. See Stoll, 783 P.2d at 707. ¶ 24. In closing, we note that the legal support underpinning Richard A.P. in particular King  provides support for the conclusion that Richard A.P. evidence may be admissible. In King, the defendant, charged with first-degree murder, introduced expert psychological testimony to show that the defendant was not suffering from any mental disorder and that the criminal act was inconsistent with his nonaggressive personality. King, 75 Wis. 2d at 34-35. The court concluded that this expert opinion testimony, relating to the defendant's character, was admissible under the rules for character evidence. Id. at 38-39. ¶ 25. The State argues that the King decision is difficult to reconcile with this court's holding in Steele. Steele, however, was a narrow holding. See Flattum, 122 Wis. 2d at 302. In Steele, this court concluded that a defendant may not present expert testimony on the defendant's mental capacity to form criminal intent when based on the defendant's mental health history. Steele, 97 Wis. 2d at 97-98. The evidence presented in this case is distinguishable. Here, the evidence is not introduced to show that the defendant lacked the mental capacity to form the criminal intent required. See United States v. Webb, 625 F.2d 709, 710-11 (5th Cir. 1980). The character evidence introduced in this case is used as circumstantial evidence to show the unlikelihood that he committed the crime. As a result, we conclude that Steele does not limit our decision in this case. [13] ¶ 26. On the whole, we conclude that Richard A.P. evidence may be introduced by a defendant in some cases consistent with Wisconsin rules of evidence as discussed above. In this case, however, no ruling has been made as to the admissibility of Levin's testimony. For this reason, even though such evidence may be admissible, the matter must be remanded for the circuit court's determination.