Court Opinion

ID: 9627460
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:44:07.135687+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:42:13.072544
License: Public Domain

Dore, J.
(dissenting) — The majority holds evidence of defendant's prior aggressive acts toward her husband and others is inadmissible to rebut expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome. This decision effectively silences prosecutors when faced with a self-defense claim based, in part, on the contention that the defendant was the victim in a battering relationship. While we recently unanimously approved the admission of expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome, State v. Allery, 101 Wn.2d 591, 682 P.2d 312 (1984), nothing in that opinion suggests the prosecution should be precluded from factually contesting whether the defendant was a battered woman and truly fearful of her spouse. Today's decision creates a shield which immunizes the woman's claim that she was battered from any reasonable challenge by the prosecution. I dissent.
I
In Allery, we specifically articulated the function of *202expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome:
We find that expert testimony explaining why a person suffering from the battered woman syndrome would not leave her mate, would not inform police or friends, and would fear increased aggression against herself would be helpful to a jury in understanding a phenomenon not within the competence of an ordinary, lay person. Smith v. State, [247 Ga. 612, 277 S.E.2d 678 (1981)]. Where the psychologist is qualified to testify about the battered woman syndrome, and the defendant establishes her identity as a battered woman, expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome is admissible. This evidence may have a substantial bearing on the woman's perceptions and behavior at the time of the killing and is central to her claim of self-defense. State v. Anaya, 438 A.2d 892 (Me. 1981).
Our holding today is in harmony with our decision in State v. Wanrow, [88 Wn.2d 221, 559 P.2d 548 (1977)]. There we held that the jury must consider all tbe facts and circumstances known to the woman at the time of the killing in evaluating her claim of self-defense. To effectively present the situation as perceived by the defendant, and the reasonableness of her fear, the defense has the option to explain her feelings to enable the jury to overcome stereotyped impressions about women who remain in abusive relationships. It is appropriate that the jury be given a professional explanation of the battering syndrome and its effects on the woman through the use of expert testimony.
101 Wn.2d at 597.
Thus, the function of this expert testimony is to aid the jury in evaluating the reasonableness of defendant's actions at the time of the homicidal act in the context of her claim of self-defense. In the instant case, a series of witnesses testified for the defendant about their observations of the history of violence and abuse Mrs. Kelly suffered at the hands of her husband. An expert witness then testified at great length about the battered woman syndrome and concluded that defendant, indeed, displayed the characteristics of a battered woman. She testified that battered women live in terrible fear of their battering mates. In the batter*203ing relationship, the woman is reduced to a condition of "learned helplessness". Because of her fear and the unpredictability of the battering incidents, the battered woman is physically and psychologically unable to extricate herself from the abusive relationship.
The State introduced evidence of defendant's prior aggressive acts to rebut this testimony that defendant was a battered woman. Rebuttal evidence is admissible where new matter has been developed by the defendant's evidence. See 6 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 1873 (3d ed. 1940); State v. Kroll, 87 Wn.2d 829, 841, 558 P.2d 173 (1976). The admissibility of rebuttal evidence rests largely on the trial court's discretion, and error can be predicated only upon a manifest abuse of that discretion. State v. White, 74 Wn.2d 386, 444 P.2d 661 (1968).
The record in this case reveals no such abuse of discretion. Defendant moved to exclude the prosecution's rebuttal evidence. In denying this motion, the trial court simply ruled that evidence of defendant's prior aggressive acts was relevant rebuttal to defense testimony on the battered woman syndrome. It stated:
The reasons for . . . denying the motion of the defendant is that both the expert witness testified on behalf of the defendant and the defendant herself have indicated that one of the characteristics of the abused wife, that is containment or isolation caused by the victim in this case, was part of the pattern. I think this is some evidence that the defendant herself was, at least in part, the cause of the isolation, if such isolation existed. Number two, the learned helplessness characteristic testified to by the expert witness, in my view, is something that this type of testimony could fairly rebut or answer.
Report of Proceedings, at 285-86.
The majority correctly held that the State's rebuttal evidence is inadmissible as character evidence because expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome does not implicate the defendant's character for purposes of ER 404(a). It then, however, arbitrarily dismisses this rebuttal testimony as irrelevant and collateral to defendant's expe*204rience as a battered woman.
ER 401 defines the concept of relevancy:
"Relevant evidence" means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.
Any circumstance is relevant which reasonably tends to establish the theory of a party or to qualify or disprove the testimony of his adversary. State v. Demos, 94 Wn.2d 733, 736, 619 P.2d 968 (1980). Defendant's theory of the case was that, as a battered woman, she reasonably believed herself to be in serious danger at the hands of her husband when the shooting occurred. Her expert testified that she displayed the characteristics of a battered woman, including a terrible fear of her husband and the crippling effects of "learned helplessness". The State's rebuttal testimony concerning defendant's prior acts of aggression toward her husband and neighbors suggests that she did not, in fact, live in this crippled state of "learned helplessness".
One witness testified that defendant shouted obscenities at him and threatened him with bodily harm when he worked at cleaning an easement between their two properties. A second testified that she had observed the defendant standing in the driveway when her husband had locked her out of the house. The witness testified that Mr. Kelly stood inside the door with a gun in his hand, while Mrs. Kelly pounded repeatedly on the house door and car door with a shovel.3
*205I find no abuse in the trial court's discretion in admitting this rebuttal testimony. The primary emotion of a battered woman is fear. Smith v. State, 247 Ga. 612, 277 S.E.2d 678 (1981). The use of expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome to explain the defendant's state of mind with respect to her self-defense claim creates a material issue concerning whether the defendant experienced learned *206helplessness and lived in constant fear of her husband. State v. Allery, supra. It was appropriate that the jury was presented with evidence that the defendant's actions toward her husband were not typical of a woman suffering from the battering syndrome. Evidence that, on prior occasions, Mrs. Kelly uttered threats of violence against neighbors and attacked her husband with a shovel was relevant and proper to show that she did not experience the crippling fear of a battered woman. There was no error in the admission of this testimony.
II
The majority's reversal of this conviction constitutes a flagrant invasion of the province of the jury as the trier of fact. The jury was properly presented with conflicting evidence on whether defendant displayed the characteristics of a battered woman. Aided by this testimony, they were to determine the reasonableness of defendant's self-defense claim in light of all the facts and circumstances known to her at the time of the shooting. State v. Wanrow, 88 Wn.2d 221, 559 P.2d 548 (1977). Instruction 18, the self-defense instruction, provides in part:
It is for you to determine whether or not the defendant had reasonable ground to apprehend imminent death or great bodily harm, and in deciding that question you should judge from the defendant's standpoint at the time of the occurrence; that is to say, you should take into consideration all the facts and circumstances bearing on the question, including those known to defendant which occurred substantially before the incident. The kind and degree of force which the defendant may lawfully use in self-defense is limited by what a reasonable person in the same situation as the defendant, seeing what she sees and knowing what she knows, then would believe to be necessary.
(Italics mine.) Clerk's Papers, at 35.4 Thus, the jury consid*207ered all the evidence of the history of violence in the Kelly marriage and determined that defendant's actions in shooting her husband were neither reasonable or justifiable. It is not the proper function of this court to simply reject this jury determination and award a new trial.
Ill
The majority also rejects the State's analogy of the battered wife syndrome to an insanity defense by pointing out the conceptual differences between the insanity defense and self-defense. This misinterprets the substance of the analogy. As the majority correctly points out, the evidence of the battered woman syndrome does not provide a new defense to a murder charge, but rather is introduced to aid the jury in evaluating the defendant's self-defense claim in light of her subjective impression at the time of the homicidal act. Majority, at 196 n.2; see also State v. Allery, supra. The function of expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome is to explain why a battered woman has an overwhelming sense of fear of her abuser and is psychologically unable to escape her tragic situation. See Comment, The Admissibility of Expert Testimony on Battered Wife Syndrome: An Evidentiary Analysis, 77 Nw. U. L. Rev. 348, 360-61 (1982). To this extent, evidence of the syndrome places the woman's mental or psychological condition at issue. Thus, as in insanity cases, evidence of prior conduct of the defendant which reveals an absence of her sense of entrapment and overwhelming fear of her abuser should be admissible. Cf. State v. Huson, 73 Wn.2d 660, 440 P.2d 192 (1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1096 (1969).
*208Conclusion
I find no abuse of the trial court's discretion in admitting evidence of defendant's prior aggressive acts in rebuttal to expert testimony that she was a battered woman. I would affirm the conviction.

This witness testified:
"Q (By Ms. Norris) Mrs. Penhollow, calling your attention to approximately sometime in the winter of 1978, do you ever recall observing Mrs. Kelly in the back yard of the Kelly residence under unusual circumstances?
"A Yes.
”Q Can you describe those circumstances to the jury?
"A We heard a lot of noise outside, so we were in our family room and we looked out the window, which overlooks their back yard, and she was out in the back yard.
" Q Could you see what she was doing at that time?
"A Well, she was standing outside. She was very mad.
Q How do you know she was very mad? What did you see that would lead *205you to believe that she was mad?
"A Well, she was yelling and screaming.
"Q Was your window open in your family room?
"A Up.
"Q Or was there — was there any kind of open window?
"A No, the windows were closed because it was in the winter.
"Q Could you hear her fairly well?
"A That's why we got up.
"Q Did you see her doing anything?
''A Yes.
"Q What did you see her doing?
"A Well, I saw her pick up a shovel and start to beat the back door.
”Q Would that be the back door of the Kelly residence?
"A Yes.
”Q Did you see her doing anything with reference to any vehicles in the back yard?
"A Well, when she couldn't get in, then she started pounding on the cars that were parked out in the back.
"Q Was that with the shovel also?
"A No.
"Q Did you observe Mr. Kelly on that occasion?
"A Yes.
"Q And when did you observe him?
"A The same time.
"Q Where was he?
“A He was inside the house, standing right inside the back door.
”Q And did you see what he did?
"A He was standing there, and he had a gun, and he didn't want her to come in.
”Q Did she still have the shovel?
''A I don't remember exactly at that point if she had the shovel or not.
"Q Did the police come on that incident?
"A They came.
"Q Do you remember how Mrs. Kelly responded to the police?
"A Well, she was very angry at the police.
"Q How did you know that?
"A Because there were several patrolmen outside the back door and she was swearing at them."

In State v. Allery, 101 Wn.2d 591, 682 P.2d 312 (1984), the trial court failed to instruct the jury to consider all facts and circumstances known to the defendant which occurred substantially before the incident. We held this was reversible error because the jury was not adequately instructed to consider the history of *207marital violence which formed the basis of defendant's contention that she was a battered woman. This was central to her theory of self-defense. It was necessary for the jury to consider the history of batterings to adequately evaluate the reasonableness of defendant's actions. See Allery, at 594-95. The instruction in the present case directs the jury's attention to the history of marital violence. Whether the defendant was a "battered woman" was a factual question for the jury to consider in light of all the testimony concerning the violence in the Kelly marriage.