Opinion ID: 2624540
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: State's Psychologist

Text: Brinklow complains of the following exchange between the prosecutor and a psychologist who had examined A.C.: [Prosecutor:] You determined that [A.C.] exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, correct? [Psychologist:] Yes. [Prosecutor:] In your work with [A.C.], did you determine what had caused those symptoms? What had caused her post-traumatic stress disorder? [Psychologist:] Yes. [A.C's] traumatic event was her sexual abuse that she reported. Brinklow contends that the prosecutor's question elicited a comment on A.C.'s credibility and, thus, invaded the province of the jury. See State v. Crum, 286 Kan. 145, 151, 184 P.3d 222 (2008) (compelling a witness to comment on the credibility of another witness is improper; weighing the credibility of witnesses is the province of the jury). We agree that the psychologist's answer may well have crossed the line between opining on whether sexual abuse occurred and opining on who committed the abuse. See, e.g., State v. Lash, 237 Kan. 384, 385, 699 P.2d 49 (1985) (affirming district court's ruling that psychologist could give opinion about whether victim had been sexually molested, but not about whether defendant committed the molestation). However, Brinklow did not object to the answer at trial. See K.S.A. 60-404 (requiring contemporaneous objection to preserve appellate issue on admissibility of evidence). The narrow issue before us is whether the question propounded by the prosecutor was so improper as to constitute plain error, i.e., whether the question could have been answered without invading the province of the jury. The inquiry was whether the psychologist had determined through her work with A.C. what had caused the diagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder. The witness could have responded that she had determined that the causative trauma was sexual abuse, without referring to the specific instance of abuse reported by A.C. Accordingly, we find no misconduct in the prosecutor's question.