Court Opinion

ID: 9856709
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:55:57.216031+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:40:25.643365
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WEBER,
dissenting:
I dissent from Issue II of the majority opinion where the majority concludes that the District Court erred in admitting the testimony of Linda Crummet. In quoting from Meyers, 68 Nebraska Law Rev. 1,12 (1989), the majority points out that in the developing field of child sexual abuse, the critical factors relating to qualification as an expert include: (1) extensive firsthand experience with sexually abused and non-sexually abused children; (2) thorough and up-to-date knowledge of the professional literature on child sexual abuse; and (3) objectivity and neutrality about individual cases as are required of other experts. The majority opinion raises no issue as to Linda Crummet’s extensive firsthand experience with sexually abused children, her thorough and up-to-date knowledge of professional literature and her objectivity and neutrality. The majority does conclude that there is no indication that Ms. Crummet has had experience in treating non-sexually abused children, and without such experience, her opinion on the issue of whether or not the victim had been sexually abused could not properly be given. To me the record requires a different conclusion. Following are parts of the qualifying testimony on the part of Linda Crummet:
*348“Q. Would you state your name, please.
“A. Linda Crummet.
“Q. And your occupation.
“A. I am clinical social worker.
“Q. Where do you work, Ms. Crummet?
“A. I work twenty hours a week at Eastern Montana College as a counselor at the Health Center, and I have a private practice.
“Q. Would you tell the jury, please, what your educational background is.
“A. I have a Masters in social work from the University of Minnesota.
“Q. Is there any area in which you specialize in your practice?
“A. I specialize in working with sexual abuse victims.
“Q ... Were there any courses that involved dealing with and recognizing the victims of sexual abuse?
“A. Many. Many in graduate school and then subsequently in specialized workshop and training.
“Q. All right. When would the specialized workshops have taken place, were they before or after you received your masters degree?
“A. After I received my masters degree, and off and on since 1981 and I continue to do so.
“Q. Can you tell the jury within a fair number the workshops you have attended since you obtained your degree.
“A. Oh I would say thirty, forty at least.
“Q. And how many of those workshops would have dealt with sexual abuse of children?
“A. The majority, probably eighty percent.
This establishes without contradiction that Linda Crummet, over the past ten years, had taken many courses involving the recognition and identification of victims of sexual abuse. This was done in approximately thirty specialized workshops over the span of ten years. This directly contradicts the majority conclusion that she had no basis for concluding that a victim had been sexually abused. The uncontradicted record establishes that she had extensive workshops and training for the express purpose of identifying and concluding that a particular person had been or had not been a sexual abuse victim. The foregoing testimony, together with other testimony on the part of Linda Crummet established that at Eastern Montana College where she works twenty horns a week, approximately forty to fifty *349percent of her cases are not sexual abuse cases. In her private practice, about ten percent are not sexual abuse cases. The District Court in the exercise of its discretion concluded that Linda Crummet was qualified as an expert “by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education, and may testify as an expert in this area of child sexual abuse.” There is certainly substantial evidence for that District Court conclusion and I am unable to see on what basis the majority has in effect concluded that the District Court was clearly erroneous in reaching that conclusion.
We will next discuss additional pertinent information disclosed by the examination and cross-examination of Linda Crummet. Following cross-examination on the question of her ability to determine when a child, sexually abused or not, might be lying, she gave the following response:
“Q. I would like to go into that a little bit farther. What type of training have you had to deal with making a distinction between a child who is lying and a child who is actually a victim of sexual abuse?
“A. Well that’s a focus of much of the training as far as workshops that have to do with determining whether a child is credible and determining whether a child is telling the truth versus telling a lie, how to do that. Interviewing workshops, how to interview children. And there are always a lot of questions and confusion about what legal issues versus treatment issues sometimes can clash. And so much of that has been covered in many treatment workshops, supervision, I have had a great deal of supervision in cases in working with kids.”
With regard to the statements made by S.S., as compared to statements which might be a lie, she testified as follows:
“Q. Let me just stop you a minute here. With regard to the authenticity then, how did that apply to your stated conclusion that you believed the statements [S.S.] made to you were true?
“A. Well [S.S.] would essentially give the same information over time but was able to give, use different words, and she was consistent with her affect without it appearing staged or unreal.
“Q. Now affect you have indicated is difficulty saying words, hesitation, embarrassment?
“A. Emotional kinds of response, yes, and hers was pretty appropriate to the content.
“Q. And with a child who is making up the story what effect do you see?
“A. They can be agitated or flat, meaning they just kind of get the *350words and don’t have a lot of fear or concern or the kinds of icky feeling that a child shows, and you can see when a child feels real dirty, when they feel responsible, when they feel scared.
“Q. You also indicated that there have been a number of cases you have dealt with where you did conclude the child was lying?
“A. Yes.”
Such testimony demonstrated that Linda Crummet could distinguish between a child who is lying about being a victim of sexual abuse and an actual sexual abuse victim. She also demonstrated an ability to distinguish coached children and lying children from those telling the truth about sexual abuse. She explained some of the characteristics which helped her to distinguish the truth. From that testimony we may properly conclude that she had significant experience in treating abused and non-abused children and had extensive training and experience in determining whether or not a child was telling the truth in connection with claims of sexual abuse. After considering this extensive testimony which goes beyond the initial qualifying testimony, I disagree even more emphatically with the majority conclusion that Linda Crummet did not have experience in treating non-sexually abused children so that her opinion could not be given.
I also emphasize that the defense counsel did not raise an issue as to the lack of experience of Linda Crummet with non-sexually abused children. Had such an objection been raised, it would have given additional opportunity for presentation of additional evidence and consideration of the same by the trial court.
I conclude the record amply demonstrates that Linda Crummet had experience in treating both sexually abused and non-sexually abused children. I conclude that Linda Crummet had the qualifications by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to render an expert opinion as required under Rule 701, M.R.Evid.
I would affirm the conviction of the defendant.