Court Opinion

ID: 9577600
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:36:25.444662+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:52.723252
License: Public Domain

HAYS, Justice
(specially concurring).
I concur in the majority opinion except that I cannot agree that testimony from a psychiatrist concerning defendant’s statements as to the events surrounding the charge creates fundamental error. Although this error is not specifically denominated as such in the majority opinion, the requirement that there must be an affirmative showing on the record of consent by the defendant himself spells out fundamental error without mentioning it.
The list of requisite litanies continues to grow as the search for truth becomes an obstacle race rather than a dash, and juries sit impatiently while court and counsel in chambers make affirmative showings for the record. It is no abuse of due process in my mind to require the defendant to object before such testimony is barred. If defense counsel elicits the proscribed testimony from a psychiatrist, where is the affirmative showing of defendant’s consent? Does this fundamental error mandate reversal ?