Court Opinion

ID: 9570574
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:24:21.610037+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:54.669415
License: Public Domain

CAMPBELL, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the State failed to lay an adequate foundation for the admission of Dr. Powell’s expert opinion that S.E. had in fact been sexually abused under N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 702.
The majority interprets the Supreme Court’s recent decision in State v. Stancil, 355 N.C. 266, 559 S.E.2d 788 (2002) as prohibiting expert opinion testimony that a child victim has been sexually abused unless there is physical evidence to support a diagnosis of sexual abuse. To further support this proposition, the majority cites this Court’s opinions in State v. Grover, 142 N.C. App. 411, 543 S.E.2d 179, affirmed, 354 N.C. 354, 553 S.E.2d 679 (2001), and State v. Dick, 126 N.C. App. 312, 485 S.E.2d 88, disc. review denied, 346 N.C. 551, 488 S.E.2d 813 (1997). I disagree with the majority’s interpretation of Stancil, Grover, and Dick. In my view, the bright line rule now adopted by the majority, i.e., that expert opinion testimony that a child victim has been sexually abused is only admissible under Rule 702 when there is physical evidence to support a diagnosis of sexual abuse, is not mandated by Stancil, Grover, and Dick, and is not an appropriate extension of the law on this subject as set forth by our Supreme Court in State v. Trent, 320 N.C. 610, 359 S.E.2d 463 (1987), and as applied by this Court in numerous cases since Trent.
In Trent, the Supreme Court set forth the following inquiry for determining whether expert medical opinion is admissible under Rule 702:
“[I]n determining whether expert medical opinion is to be admitted into evidence the inquiry should be . . . whether the opinion *55expressed is really one based on the special expertise of the expert, that is, whether the witness because of his expertise is in a better position to have an opinion on the subject than is the trier of fact.”
Trent, 320 S.E.2d at 614, 359 S.E.2d at 465 (quoting State v. Wilkerson, 295 N.C. 559, 568-69, 247 S.E.2d 905, 911 (1978)). Applying this test to the record before it, the Court in Trent held that the State had failed to lay a sufficient foundation for the admission of an expert diagnosis that the child victim had been sexually abused. The expert in Trent — a physician with a specialty in pediatrics — repeatedly testified that his diagnosis was based upon the results of a pelvic exam, which was administered four years after the date of the alleged sexual abuse and standing alone would not support a diagnosis of sexual abuse, and the victim’s statements to him concerning the alleged sexual abuse. He cited no other basis for his diagnosis. Given the limited basis for the diagnosis, the Court held that the State had failed to lay a sufficient foundation for the admission of the expert testimony, since there was nothing in the record to support a conclusion that the expert was in a better position than the jury to determine whether the victim had been sexually abused. Id. The Court in Trent did not adopt a bright line rule that absent ‘physical evidence expert opinion testimony that there has been child sexual abuse is always inadmissible.
In the instant case, Dr. Powell testified that his opinion that S.E. had been sexually abused was based on his interviews with S.E., her grandparents, her aunt, her mother, and defendant, the reports from Dr. Sinai’s physical examination of S.E., S.E.’s use of anatomically correct dolls to illustrate the alleged sexual abuse, and the results of psychological tests conducted on both S.E. and defendant. While the majority focuses on the fact that there was no physical evidence to support a diagnosis of sexual abuse, the physical examination by Dr. Sinai was only incidental to, and not the primary basis for, Dr. Powell’s conclusion. Further, Dr. Powell testified that Dr. Sinai’s findings of no physical signs of penetration were not inconsistent with his own opinion that S.E. had been sexually abused. Dr. Sinai testified, and Dr. Powell agreed, that the alleged acts of abuse in the instant case — digital penetration and cunnilingus — are not likely to leave damage or permanent physical evidence. In addition, Dr. Sinai testified that studies show as few as sixteen percent (16%) of cases of sexual abuse actually result in physical evidence sufficient to support a definite diagnosis of sexual abuse. Thus, in cases like the instant one, *56where there is expert testimony that the alleged acts of sexual abuse are not likely to leave physical evidence, the majority sets forth a rule that would totally prevent the use of expert opinion testimony that the victim had been sexually abused. I do not read Rule 702 or Standi as setting up such an absolute prohibition.
In my view, the basis for Dr. Powell’s opinion in the instant case was much stronger than the basis for the opinions found to be inadmissible in Grover and Standi, and was sufficient to allow the trial judge, as the gatekeeper for scientific evidence, to properly allow Dr. Powell’s opinion to be admitted into evidence. In Grover, the opinions found to be inadmissible were based solely on the statements provided by the victims. In Standi, the opinion was based on two physical examinations which were normal and a review of one interview with the child by a psychologist. Here, Dr. Powell conducted a series of interviews with all of the individuals involved. He also reviewed the reports of Dr. Sinai’s physical examination, and administered psychological tests on both S.E. and defendant. Having been admitted as an expert in the field of child sexual abuse and child psychology, Dr. Powell was in a better position than the jury to understand the significance of his findings and to give an opinion as to whether S.E. had in fact been sexually abused. Therefore, I conclude that the trial court did not err in allowing Dr. Powell’s testimony under Rule 702.
Having reviewed defendant’s remaining assignments of error, I conclude that they lack merit. Therefore, I would find no error in defendant’s trial.