Opinion ID: 1908635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Trial Court's Exercise of Discretion.

Text: The trial court ruled that Dr. Penrod's testimony would not be admitted and explained its ruling orally as follows: The memorandum filed by [counsel for Green] not only contains Professor Penrod's extensive curriculum vitae, but also sets forth a number of citations to other cases and law review articles and other articles written for scientific or professional journals [by] Professor Penrod and others, talking about the, if you will, state of the art within this particular field, and how, within that field, [it] has changed in the last ten years or progressed from their professional point of view. So I am not making this ruling without some cognizance of basically what is out there, but rather I am making this ruling based upon my conclusion that this proffered testimony and evidence does not meet the first prong of the Dyas three-prong test. In this particular situation, I frankly think that the question might be more difficult if I were being asked to rule upon a blank canvas, as it were. That is not the situation. I, along with the parties and Counsel, have lived through about three and a half weeks of trial in this case. I have gone thr[ough] the experience of a number of voir dire examinations held out of [the] presence of the jury, including Mr. Givens, the primary witness against whom this testimony is being offered. I am also dealing with a situation where Counsel [at the first trial] ... thoroughly and exhaustively explored with Mr. Givens, outside the presence of [t]he jury, and even more so in the presence of the jury, all the circumstances of his in-court identification.... [Counsel for Green] left nothing unturned in cross examining that young man. I don't think there was anything else you... could have asked him about his identifications. And I think in some respects you made him out to be silly in front of the jury, through the quality of your cross examination. But the point is, all of those facts were presented to the jury. You've got the transcript from the first trial. I fully expect you will go into this with Mr. Givens again, and ... if he starts to give answers that are different, you obviously not only have the transcript, but you even have exhibits with which to impeach him and make him appear to be changing his testimony.... To propose to bring in an expert now to talk about some scientific studies, professional studies, however you wish to denominate them, done ... in a controlled environment, as opposed to or perhaps in addition to some case studies which are referred to based upon interviews with jurors who served in actual cases, I think is to present information that, number one, is unnecessary to this particular jury that will be hearing this case; and, secondly, [deals] with matters that are not beyond the ken of the average juror. It is one thing to say[,] in a sort of clean canvas upon which has not been painted upon or drawn upon, that this is what the scientific world believes goes on in terms of eyewitness identifications. To then say to the jury[,] here is what the scientific community says, now let's make the transference without the expert making the transference, but I want you, ladies and gentlemen, to make the transference, if you will, from what goes on in the controlled environment to Rodney Givens, who has been, you know, skewered left and right by Defense Counsel on cross examination, are things which I think are not necessary for the jury's evaluation in this case. I think that the jury is perfectly capable of using their own common sense, their own experiences, and the facts which you bring out on cross examination, to make an evaluation as to [first] whether or not Rodney Givens had any perceptual difficulties; number two, whether those perceptual difficulties have impacted positively or negatively on his identification, and finally to use that common sense and experience in determining how reliable is that identification, independent of whether or not there are even any perceptual abilities or abilities to recall things.... [Defense counsel] made it appear that it was absolutely silly for him [Givens] not to have known that the defendants were going to be in the courtroom and where they would be sitting, and how is it that he had to suddenly stick his head around the corner of the jury box in order to see Mr. Green, and why hadn't he done it before. All these facts were brought out to the jury, and the jury was in an absolutely perfect position to make an assessment as to what weight, if any, to give to Mr. Givens' testimony. Given what I have heard in the first trial, and what I have seen, and knowing that there's likely to be a repetition of it which would get even more nasty if he [Givens] tries to change something, I don't see any basis for concluding that this type of proffered expert testimony would deal with the subject matter that is beyond the ken of our average juror and lay person; therefore, the motion is denied. We cannot say that this lengthy oral ruling was manifestly erroneous. The trial court properly exercised its discretion by taking account of the scientific developments identified in the proffer. Then the trial court, similar to its predecessors in Dyas and that case's progeny, concluded that the proffered expert testimony did not deal with subject matter beyond the ken of an average juror and would present information unnecessary to this particular jury that would be hearing this case. See Taylor, supra, 451 A.2d at 866-67 & n. 9 (concerning stress, reluctance of witness to change publicly-declared identification, and perpetrator's use of a weapon); Brooks, supra, 448 A.2d at 258 (concerning the nature of human memory and perception and the mental processes involved in an eyewitness identification); (Michael) Smith, supra, 389 A.2d at 1358-59 (concerning the psychology of memory and perception); Dyas, supra, 376 A.2d at 831-32 (concerning stress, reluctance of witness to change publicly-declared identification, and possibility that authority figures might unduly influence the identification process). See also Commonwealth v. Santoli, 424 Mass. 837, 680 N.E.2d 1116, 1118-20 (Mass. 1997) (affirming, under abuse-of-discretion standard, the exclusion of expert testimony on the effects of, inter alia, stress, the use of a weapon, and postevent suggestions on the accuracy of an eyewitness's identification). Dr. Penrod's testimony was proffered for two reasons upon which this court has not yet ruled in a published opinion: unconscious transference and photo-biased identifications. Courts of other jurisdictions, however, have held that a trial court's exclusion of expert testimony offered for such purposes is not an abuse of discretion. See, e.g., United States v. Harris, 995 F.2d 532, 534-36 (4th Cir.1993) (affirming, under abuse-of-discretion standard, the exclusion of expert testimony on, inter alia, the effects of unconscious transference on the accuracy of an eyewitness identification); Rodriguez v. Commonwealth, 20 Va.App. 122, 455 S.E.2d 724, 726-27 (Va.Ct. App.1995) (affirming, under abuse-of-discretion standard, the exclusion of expert testimony on the effects of, inter alia, photo-bias in subsequent in-person identifications). The point of such proffers is always to undermine the reliability of the identification. As the trial court pointed out, defense counsel in this case had ample opportunity to argue to the jury that Givens's identification was influenced by his prior viewing of the photo array and, perhaps, by encounters with Green in other settings, and otherwise to challenge Givens's identification testimony. Moreover, like the trial court here, we have recognized the importance of cross-examination to emphasize to the jury the eyewitness's equivocations and possible mistakes. See Taylor, supra, 451 A.2d at 867; Brooks, supra, 448 A.2d at 258; (Michael) Smith, supra, 389 A.2d at 1359; Dyas, supra, 376 A.2d at 832. The circumstances under which Givens viewed Green on the night of the offenses, the lapse of two years between that night and Givens's first attempt to identify Green, and Givens's equivocation were all made known to the jury through lengthy cross-examination. We note also that the trial court had personally seen the mishaps involving Givens which formed the basis for the proffered testimony, and was in a particularly good position to determine what benefit, if any, expert testimony might provide to explain them. In short, given the abuse of discretion standard applicable here, we cannot say the trial court erred in excluding Dr. Penrod's testimony for all proffered purposes. We turn now to the appellants' separate contentions.