Court Opinion

ID: 9687563
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:36:07.465202+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:28.797742
License: Public Domain

SPECIAL CONCURRENCE
Stringer, Justice
(concurring specially).
While I agree with the majority that admitting expert testimony regarding battered woman syndrome was within the broad discretion the trial court exercises over admissibility of evidence, and therefore concur in affirming the conviction, I write separately to express a concern regarding the potential impact of this kind of evidence on the jury, and what the trial court should do to minimize the potential for unfair prejudice to the defendant.1
*198It is our tradition of justice that we look to the jury to apply its experience and common sense in the search for truth, and we are loath to allow testimony that in any way interferes with its responsibility to resolve these “ultimate issues.” See 3 Christopher B. Mueller & Laird C. Kirkpatrick, Federal Evidence § 351, at 636 (2d ed.1994). To deal with this concern, this court has adopted the Rules of Evidence, and particularly Rule 403, implementing a balancing test weighing the probative value of relevant evidence against the danger of unfair prejudice and other concerns. Evidence may be excluded, although relevant, if the harmful effect substantially outweighs the probative value. Minn. R. Evid. 403. The trial courts properly are entrusted with wide discretion in applying this test. Thus, in State v. Hennum, we held that evidence of battered woman syndrome was properly admitted where offered by the defendant as a shield to help the jury understand the admitted killing of her husband in the context of a long-term abusive relationship. 441 N.W.2d 793, 798 (Minn.1989). We further held that the expert’s testimony was limited to a description of the general nature of battered woman syndrome: “The expert should not be allowed to testify as to the ultimate fact that the particular defendant actually suffers from battered woman syndrome.” Id. at 799.
Here, however, the situation is quite different, as in these circumstances evidence of the syndrome is offered by the state as a prose-cutorial sword, and the risk of unduly prejudicing the defendant’s right to a presumption of innocence and a fair trial is well-illustrated. The complainant, who was in an intimate relationship with the defendant, alleged that the defendant repeatedly and regularly battered her during the course of the relationship; the defendant denied the battering, giving an entirely different account of the events in controversy. Thus, the jury was faced with the question of whom to believe. Defendant challenged the complainant’s credibility by cross-examining her as to why, if she were so regularly and frequently battered, she continued in her relationship with the defendant, and why for three years she did not complain to law enforcement authorities; further, when she did complain, why she later withdrew her complaint. To rehabilitate the complainant, expert testimony on battered woman syndrome was offered by the prosecution and admitted in evidence to explain how fear, intimidation, and helplessness tend to keep a woman in an abusive relationship.
The admission of the expert testimony on battered woman syndrome could have a profound influence on the jury in its determination as to whom to believe on the basic issue of whether the battering occurred at all— even though the court prohibited the expert witness from testifying as to whether the complainant was in fact a battered woman. The right to a presumption of innocence would soon be an empty epithet unless the trial court exercises extraordinary vigilance in applying Rule 403 under circumstances such as we have here, where guilt or innocence turns solely on which of two accounts to believe, and expert testimony, that arguably implies that the criminal conduct charged actually did occur, is offered to explain inconsistent conduct by the complainant. Careful inquiry must be made under Rule 403 as to all aspects of the need for, and value of, the expert testimony as rehabilitative of the witness’ credibility and its helpfulness to the jury, and these factors must be balanced against the clear potential for unfair prejudice to the defendant.
I agree with the majority that because of the potential for severe prejudice, in addition to prohibiting the witness from testifying as *199to whether the complainant in fact suffered from battered woman syndrome, the trial court should not admit testimony that would suggest that the complainant was battered or fit the battered woman profile, that the complainant was truthful, or that the defendant was a batterer. Further, I would impose the additional restriction that, in circumstances where the evidence is used offensively as here, the trial court should prohibit any expert who has examined the complainant from testifying as to the general nature of battered woman syndrome in order to assure that no prejudicial inferences can be drawn that the complainant was in fact battered or suffered from battered woman syndrome. These restrictions have been endorsed by other courts, see 3 Mueller & Kirkpatrick, supra, at 639, and will protect against the jury perceiving the expert testimony as evidence on the ultimate issue of guilt or innocence.

. Several commentators have expressed concerns about the prejudicial effect and potential misuse by the jury of "social framework evidence” such as expert testimony on battered woman syndrome. See, e.g., Cathleen C. Herasimchuk, A Practical Guide to the Admissibility of Novel Expert Evidence in Criminal Trials Under Federal Rule 702, 22 St. Mary’s L.J. 181, 246-47 (1990) ("Expert testimony relating to a scientific field which is only in an emerging, experimental stage, might pose a greater potential for affecting a jury in an emotional sense if the jury is likely to conclude incorrectly that the scientific expertise is infallible.”); Myrna S. Raeder, The Double-Edged Sword: Admissibility of Battered Woman Syndrome by and Against Batterers in Cases Implicating Domestic Violence, 67 U. Colo. L.Rev. 789, 791 (1996) ("It is undeniable that any type of social science evidence presented by prosecutors is not only highly prejudicial but also may not survive a challenge based on its being evidence of group character.”); Neil J. Vidmar & Regina A. Schuller, Juries and Expert Evidence: Social Framework Testimony, Law & Contemp. *198Probs., Autumn 1989, at 133, 143 ("Social framework evidence is intended to be used for a limited purpose, namely to provide a context for evaluating the testimony of a witness. It should not be used to assess witness credibility, which is solely the task of the jury.”); Joan M. Schroeder, Note, Using Battered Woman Syndrome Evidence in the Prosecution of a Batterer, 76 Iowa L.Rev. 553, 577 (1991) ("[W]hen an expert states that the victim suffers from [battered woman] syndrome, there is a danger of impermissible prejudice and the defendant’s right to a fair trial is seriously jeopardized.”); Annie E. Thar, Comment, The Admissibility of Expert Testimony on Battered Wife Syndrome: An Evidentiary Analysis, 77 Nw. U.L.Rev. 348, 371 (1982) ("[An] important safeguard against the improper use of battered wife syndrome testimony is the judge’s ultimate power to decide whether or not to admit the evidence.”).