Opinion ID: 408167
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: psychiatric examination of witnesses

Text: 52 Before trial, Provenzano's attorney submitted a motion requesting psychiatric examinations of government witnesses Ralph Picardo and Joseph Szapor. Supporting the motion was an affidavit which stated that Picardo had been branded a liar, a little crazy, off-the-wall, and a pathological liar, by a number of government witnesses in an earlier unrelated trial. In addition, after his conviction in February of 1975 for murder, Picardo was confined for psychiatric examination at the New Jersey State Prison at Trenton. As to Szapor, the defense recited a number of bizarre actions and an allegation that drugs prescribed for treatment and pain may have affected his competency and credibility. 53 The trial judge refused to order the examinations, finding that the attacks posed a credibility issue for jury resolution. Cotler now asserts that the denial of his motion was an abuse of discretion. The defendant concedes that the question of credibility is ultimately one for the jury, but argues that the opinion of a psychiatrist would be helpful in the deliberations. 54 We note that both witnesses were extensively cross-examined. As a result, the jury heard about Picardo's murder conviction and his cocaine and marijuana use, that he used relatives without their knowledge to further his criminal schemes, and that he believed self-preservation was the name of the game. The record also demonstrates his incentive to furnish information to the federal authorities in order to avoid state prosecution. 55 The cross-examination of Szapor was so effective that the trial judge commented that the witness's credibility was certainly placed in doubt not only by the evidence offered by the defendants, but certainly as a result of his cross-examination.... Thus, the evidence before the jury provided ample information for its task of evaluating the truthfulness of the two witnesses. 56 We find no abuse of discretion in the judge's refusal to order the psychiatric examinations. In United States v. Pacelli, 521 F.2d 135, 140 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 911, 96 S.Ct. 1106, 47 L.Ed.2d 314 (1976), the court said that the question is within the discretion of the trial judge and will not be disturbed unless it is plainly in error. We adopt that standard also. 57 Even if the examination had been ordered, it is doubtful at best that psychiatric testimony would have been appropriate here. The use of such evidence at trial to attack or support a witness's credibility has not been generally favored. In United States v. Barnard, 490 F.2d 907, 912 (9th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 959, 94 S.Ct. 1976, 40 L.Ed.2d 310 (1974), the court emphasized the jury's responsibility to assess credibility. Doubting that psychiatrists have more expertise in this field than juries, the court pointed out that such expert testimony might cause jurors to surrender their common sense in weighing the evidence and could produce a trial within a trial. The court concluded that this type of testimony should only be received in unusual cases. Id. at 913. The record in this case did not establish anything so out of the ordinary as to require-or indeed justify-the use of psychiatric testimony. The eccentric behavior that might have been deemed significant by a psychiatrist was fully explored before the jury. See also, United States v. Jackson, 576 F.2d 46, 48-49 (5th Cir. 1978); United States v. Russo, 442 F.2d 498 (2d Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1023, 92 S.Ct. 669, 30 L.Ed.2d 673 (1972).