Court Opinion

ID: 9772740
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:28:38.349221+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:47.979968
License: Public Domain

VAIDIK, Judge,
concurring in result.
I concur in full with the majority opinion that the trial court did not err in granting a continuance or in admitting the testimony of Creekbaum, a domestic violence expert.
I write separately because I believe Creekbaum's testimony was admissible under Indiana Evidence Rule 702 as syndrome evidence to help the jury understand why Colleen Amos recanted certain allegations she had made against Otte. Battered Women's Syndrome ("BWS") helps to explain why a victim of domestic violence may recant allegations of violence against her abuser. Such syndrome evidence is admissible to counter the inference that the victim's behavior or statement is inconsistent with the event having occurred.
Otte challenges the admission of Creekbaum's testimony not because she was not qualified to give her expert opinion on the matter, she was, but, among other reasons, because the scientific principles upon which Creekbaum's testimony rested were not reliable. I disagree. We have already held that BWS is a valid scientific theory under Rule 702. Carnahan v. State, 681 N.E.2d 1164, 1167 (Ind.Ct.App.1997). And once a particular type of scientific evidence is admitted into evidence in Indiana courts, a trial court should take judicial notice of that fact. McGrew v. State, 682 N.E.2d 1289, 1291 (Ind.1997).
I understand that Creekbaum, a non-lawyer, did not believe that evidence of BWS was admissible in Indiana. See Tr. p. 352. But, the reality is that it is. As such, her expert testimony regarding BWS, which we have previously found to be based on reliable scientific principles, is admissible. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting this evidence.