Court Opinion

ID: 9570272
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:21:53.853175+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:26.668051
License: Public Domain

Andrews, Judge,
concurring specially.
Under the case law cited by the majority opinion, the proffered expert testimony regarding the profile of a pedophile was inadmissible in the instant case. However, I see little difference (in quality of evidence) between expert testimony regarding abused child syndrome, which is admissible in this state, and the type of expert testimony excluded in this case. As argued by the appellant, there is the appearance of an unlevel playing field, with the state being allowed to present such “soft science” but the defendant being prohibited from doing likewise.
Evidence of “syndromes” should be greeted with caution, if not suspicion. In this age earmarked by the denial of personal responsibility, it sometimes appears that the defense strategy of choice is to formulate a new syndrome as the situation dictates. Our current legal lexicon includes such phenomena as the battered wife syndrome, the abused child syndrome, and the post-traumatic stress syndrome, and the catalogue is expanding. Recently, an attempt was made to establish an “urban survival syndrome” in a Texas murder trial, in which an expert explained that the defendant shot two unarmed men because the environment in which all three men lived had heightened his fear of the victims, who matched the profile of statistically the most dangerous men in America, i.e., inner city young black males. Time, June 6, 1994, p. 30.
Our Supreme Court has determined that expert testimony concerning the battered woman syndrome and the abused child syndrome is admissible in Georgia, provided the expert does not state a conclusion that the victim was abused. Allison v. State, 256 Ga. 851, 852 (353 SE2d 805) (1987); Smith v. State, 247 Ga. 612, 619 (277 SE2d 678) (1981). However, that Court has not yet seen fit to question this court’s resistance to adding other syndromes, such as the profile of a pedophile, to that list of admissible “soft science” evidence. See Jennette v. State, 197 Ga. App. 580 (398 SE2d 734) (1990) (expert testimony of pedophile’s profile and expert testimony concerning a “lying child syndrome” held inadmissible).
The formulation of a psychological or sociological profile of a pedophile has gained little acceptance in either the scientific community or the courts. See Flanagan v. State, 586 S2d 1085, 1115 (Fla. 1991). In fact, it appears that “ ‘[w]ith the notable exception of courts in California, . . . virtually every appellate court that has ruled on the admissibility of expert testimony regarding the psychological profile of child molesters has rejected it.’ ” State v. Michaels, 625 A2d 489, 510 (N. J. 1993), quoting from Peters & Murphy, Profiling Child Sex*184ual Abusers, Legal Considerations, 19 Crim. Justice and Behavior 38, 39 (1992).
Decided October 31, 1994
Reconsideration denied November 10, 1994
Troy R. Millikan, for appellant.
Lydia J. Sartain, District Attorney, Leonard C. Parks, Jr., Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
Even evidence of syndromes associated with victims has met with divergent judicial treatment. Some courts have excluded such evidence where it was adduced for the sole purpose of proving the victim was abused, while admitting the same type of evidence where it was submitted to rehabilitate a witness whose credibility was attacked. Flanagan v. State, supra at 1113-1114. As noted above, in Georgia an expert is permitted to describe the abused child syndrome but may not conclude that the child was abused. This often results in the admissibility of such evidence depending upon a semantical distinction, in that experts are permitted to describe the syndrome and then state that the victim’s behavior was consistent with that syndrome. See State v. Butler, 256 Ga. 448 (349 SE2d 684) (1986).
It is difficult to explain why we should put stock in psychological evaluation and opinion with regard to syndromes pertaining to victims, yet extend no credence to syndromes or profiles relating to offenders. Perhaps the better solution would be to exclude all syndrome evidence. However, this court having no power to close* the door opened by the Supreme Court, I suppose the best we can do is to continue to screen out other dubious syndromes as they are imagined and promoted by individuals who need to explain away their conduct.