Pennsylvania is the only state that expressly prohibits an expert from testifying about rape-victim behavior, and that’s “disappointing,” according to Diane Moyer, legal director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, in Harrisburg.

State Rep. Cherelle Parker, D-Phila., is expected to reintroduce a bill to change that.

“It’s not typical for any rape victim to behave in any certain way,” Moyer said yesterday. She said it’s important for an expert on rape-victim behavior to be able to tell a jury why a victim may react in a “counterintuitive” way to how a person may believe such a victim should act.

Some victims may have continued contact with an acquaintance who raped them because they want to figure out what happened, Moyer said.

For instance, “you look at this person, he seems very clean-cut and professional, and all of a sudden they have the face of a monster,” she said. “You begin to question your own judgment. . . . How could this have happened?”

She said most rape victims don’t immediately report the crime to police. “It’s very unusual they would report right away, both for the embarrassment and fear,” she said.

One juror who sat through the second trial of Jeffrey Marsalis in Philadelphia in May and June 2007 voiced support yesterday for permitting testimony from expert witnesses.

“Honestly, in a trial, I think an expert should be allowed . . . whether it’s for the prosecution or for the defense . . . and let the jury decide how believable the expert is or how much more believable that expert would make the witness testimony,” the juror said. *

A court reporter read the testimony of the coroner’s investigator who collected evidence from the body of actress Lana Clarkson.

The jury asked for the reading of the forensic expert witness’ descriptions of how she collected hair, nail clippings and fibers. They also asked to hear the portion that described a crack in one of Clarkson’s acrylic fingernails.

Defendant Spector’s defense lawyers claim the crack shows she pulled the gun’s trigger, taking her own life.

Jurors are in their fourth day of deliberation in the murder re-trial of the music producer.

The 69-year-old Spector is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Clarkson at his Alhambra mansion in February 2003.

He claims she shot herself.

His first murder trial in 2007 ended with the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of conviction.

In June 2007, the Record reported on a suit filed by a woman who sought a neck adjustment then turned and sued the chiropractor for “unwanted, intrusive contact.” Now, the case has gone to trial.

Five weeks after undergoing spinal surgery, LaDonna Burge pleaded with her chiropractor, who also happened to be her boss, to perform an adjustment on her ailing neck and back, according to attorney opening statements heard on April 7.

Dr. Scott Kerr, owner of the Community Chiropractic Center, and his colleague requested that Burge obtain permission from her surgeon. When the surgeon gave her the green light, Kerr consented to the adjustment and Burge submitted to two sessions in early December 2006.

A few months later, Burge, the receptionist for Community Chiropractic, filed a lawsuit against Kerr and his business in Jefferson County, claiming the adjustments were performed “against her will” and had worsened her already traumatized neck.

During opening statements, plaintiff’s attorney Mike Pierce said the defendants failed to exercise good judgment by consenting to Burge’s requested adjustment and “therefore (are) negligent.”

Pierce added that his expert witness will testify a prudent chiropractor would have waited a year before performing an adjustment on a patient who recently underwent neck surgery.

Quattlebaum also said her expert witness will testify that a chiropractor will wait up to a year after surgery like Burge’s before giving an adjustment to ensure the vertebrae fusions are solid.

Court documents show Community Chiropractic Center professionals did X-ray Burge and determined the fusion was solid before the adjustment.

As far as both experts are concerned, Quattlebaum said the plaintiff’s expert “doesn’t really practice” chiropractic anymore and is going to school to become a nurse, while her expert is a professor at the Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena.

According to court documents and testimony, Burge has altered and contradicted her testimony several times since the suit was filed, alleging the she was “tricked” into a second adjustment although testimony shows that she told her co-workers that the first session made her feel better and she would like another adjustment.

Burge’s attorney claims the adjustments “compounded her injury,” causing a painful bulged disk.

Conversely, Quattlebaum argues Burge’s alleged bulged disk pain may have resulted from her refusal to undergo physical rehabilitation, and the attorney also noted that Burge has a documented history of playing up her pain in order to obtain drugs from doctors.

“Chiropractic is a treatment for bulging disk” Quattlebaum said. “It does not cause them.”

The teen accused gunning down a fellow student in the Central High School Cafeteria in August 2008 appeared before Knox County Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin Wednesday as lawyers debated whether he was eligible to be tried as an adult.

Jamar Siler, who is also charged with escaping from the juvenile detention center on March 27, faces first degree murder charges in the killing of Ryan McDonald, 15.

Wednesday, a defense psychologist took the stand to talk about Siler’s mental state. The psychologist said, with reservations, that Siler was competent to stand trial. The expert witness said red flags were raised when Siler asked if he could request the death penalty for himself.

The prosecution is expected to call a rebuttal witness Wednesday afternoon.

Two days have been set aside for Siler’s transfer hearing, so arguments will likely continue Thursday.

The crime Aaron Hart confessed to was undeniably repellent.

Last September, the 18-year-old man was charged with sexually assaulting a 7-year-old neighbor boy behind a tool shed in the small east Texas town of Paris. A relative of the victim said she walked outside and saw Hart with his pants pulled down, standing next to the boy.

Police read Hart his Miranda rights and he quickly admitted his guilt. On Feb. 11, Hart’s court-appointed attorney entered guilty pleas to each of five related felony counts, a jury recommended multiple sentences and a judge then ruled that the prison terms be served consecutively, for a total of 100 years.

That might have been the end of Cause No. 22924 in the 6th Judicial District Court of Lamar County, Texas—just another dismal criminal case on the docket of an obscure town.

Except that now, less than two months after Hart was sentenced, every court official who had a hand in the case seems to agree that he doesn’t really belong in prison for what amounts to the rest of his life.

That’s because Hart is profoundly mentally retarded. He has an IQ of 47, and his parents say he functions at the level of a 9-year-old. The boy he confessed to molesting is mentally retarded as well.

What’s more, the judge and the jury never heard any expert witness testimony about Hart’s diminished mental functioning, his capacity to understand his Miranda rights or his ability to assist in his own defense, because his defense attorney never subpoenaed any experts.

And since he has been in jail, Hart himself has been repeatedly raped, according to his parents. The first assault, allegedly by an inmate who is serving a far shorter sentence of just 8 years for sexual indecency with a child, so disturbed the alleged rapist’s mother that she called Hart’s parents to apologize.

“I have nightmares thinking about Aaron in prison and how he is going to survive in there,” said Robert Hart, Aaron’s 70-year-old father. “He’s the type of kid who his whole life people beat him up, took stuff from him, and he wouldn’t defend himself. He can’t read or write. He can’t hardly talk.”

Hart’s complex case is threatening to once again bring unwelcome outside scrutiny to the functioning of the criminal justice system in Paris.

A young Dublin man jailed for life for the murder of another man whom he ran down in his car has lost his appeal against conviction.

The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday rejected arguments by Anthony O’Reilly, the first person in Ireland to be convicted of murder using a motor vehicle as a weapon, of an inconsistency in the case against him which made his conviction unsafe.

O’Reilly (23), Cleggan Park, Ballyfermot, Dublin, was found guilty last year of murdering Daniel McDonald (21) on February 2nd, 2007.

Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins jailed him for life for murder and imposed concurrent sentences of eight years and six years on other charges. O’Reilly appealed against the murder conviction only and the DPP opposed the appeal.

O’Reilly claimed the trial judge erred by not withdrawing the murder charge from the jury in circumstances where the prosecution’s case contained an inherent contradiction.

It was contended an accident reconstruction expert witness had accepted propositions from technical expert witnesses for the defense that centrifugal force, coupled with some form of driver error, could have resulted in O’Reilly driving towards Mr McDonald inadvertently.

That evidence contradicted the prosecution’s claim O’Reilly had deliberately knocked down his victim, it was argued.

Rejecting the appeal, Mr Justice Peter Charleton said the admission of an alternative possibility on a matter by an expert witness did not require a direction to be given by the trial judge..

O’Reilly’s original trial heard that after a fight that began in a disco in Arklow O’Reilly had driven his car at Mr McDonald at a speed of at least 50mph, causing him fatal injuries.

During the second day of the sisters’ trial, Dr. Madhuri Reddy, the associate medical director of a San Francisco veteran’s hospital and an expert on bedsores, said Barry’s two daughters failed to provide adequate care.

“This was not death with dignity, and it certainly seems like a painful way to die,” Reddy said.

Reddy’s testimony focused on the serious pressure ulcers – commonly known as bedsores – that were discovered after Barry was brought to the hospital. The most serious ulcer, one that caused her vertebrae to be visible and resulted in damage to bone, would have taken perhaps months to form and indicated that Barry spent long periods in bed without being repositioned, she said.

Gary Johnson, the attorney defending the sisters, sparred with Reddy over the length of time it can take the sores to form, suggesting that the many health problems Barry suffered could have led to faster formation of the sores. The elderly woman had suffered a stroke and had high blood pressure and dementia. After she was admitted to the hospital, doctors found she had advanced cancer.

Judge Allen Anderson, who is hearing the bench trial, also asked Reddy about the optimum way to avoid the ulcers.

“Every two hours – if you could reposition every two hours, that would be ideal,” Reddy said.

Barry’s primary care physician testified for several hours Friday. Dr. Karen Catching said she had not examined Barry for almost nine months before seeing the woman in the hospital in the days before she died. The daughters canceled a December 2006 six-month checkup because of their mother’s anxiety over leaving the house, she said.

Catching said she discussed home health care options with Jill Barry in December 2006. The doctor also said she had treated both sisters for depression or depression-like symptoms.

Because of Anderson’s work schedule, the trial will not resume until May 4.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of a former volunteer firefighter accused of starting a duplex fire that killed a mother and her three children 3 1/2 years ago.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against 54-year-old Frederick Anthony Robinson, who is accused of setting the Sept. 2, 2005 fire. The blaze killed a longtime friend of his, 40-year-old Crystal Johnson, and her three children, , who were 11, 5, and 2 years old.

A state trooper testified in a November 2005 hearing that Robinson acknowledged setting the fire and said voices in his head told him to do it. A judge on Friday denied a bid to delay the trial so defense attorneys could seek a new arson expert witness. He also declined to allow testimony by an expert witness on false confessions.

A Jefferson County jury in Bessemer heard technical testimony trying to link a man to the murder of a Alliance community couple.

Nancy Vines took the stand and testified against Bobby Ray Sims last week.

Sims is accused of murdering Teresa and Hershell Florence, Vines’ aunt and uncle, with a shotgun in July 2007.

“The monster that did this will hopefully get what he deserves because we all for our actions, you know, we have to face the consequences,” Hershell Florence’s niece Nancy vines stated outside judge Terese Petelos’ courtroom.

Forensic scientist Donna Dodd told the jury Sims’ D.N.A. was found at the crime scene.

A firearm expert witness testified that three shotgun pellets struck each victim.

Outside the courtroom Sims family argued the wrong person was on trial.

“Our dad is innocent.  He did not do this horrible thing. I feel bad for the family, but he did not do this horrible thing.  And he’s innocent,” stated Sims’ daughter Kimberly South said during a break from testimony.

The last three years have been especially hard on Florence family.
In addition to his murder, Hershell’s brother and one of his sisters have died from natural causes since 2006.

“I don’t ever wish it for anybody in this world to ever have to go through what we’ve gone through,” Vines concluded.

A Superior Court jury on Tuesday decided that Janan Scutt must bear some responsibility for injuries to her 10-week-old child that left the infant blind and brain damaged.After deliberating for four hours Tuesday afternoon, the jury found Scutt, 23, guilty of a single count of permitting an assault and battery that left a child severely injured. Judge John A. Agostini is expected to sentence Scutt today and ordered that she be held overnight without bail.

Jurors heard closing arguments in the case on Tuesday morning and had to decide whether Scutt’s actions or negligence allowed Marlin Brandow, who was 24 at the time, to shake the infant so hard she suffered permanent, irreversible brain damage and lost her sight. The child is now 3 years old and no longer in her mother’s custody.

Throughout the three-day trial, Scutt, Marlin Brandow and their baby were portrayed as a family on the brink. They had moved from an apartment to a motel that rented by the week. They shared a single room, and the baby slept in a car seat. When she cried, Brandow would surround her with pillows and cover her with a blanket to muffle the sounds.

On March 11, 2006  all three took a cab to a laundromat to wash their clothes. They returned to the motel, and Scutt soon left again to walk to a nearby supermarket, where she bought baby formula, chicken wings, and macaroni and cheese.

Before Scutt returned, Brandow ran into the motel office clutching the baby, yelling, “My baby isn’t breathing.” One of the staff called 911, and the parking lot was soon crowded with fire trucks, police cars and ambulances.

The prosecution argued that Scutt’s own statements to social workers and investigators suggest that she saw Brandow shake the baby and then left, returning shortly after emergency responders had arrived.

Second Assistant District Attorney Joan McMenemy said Scutt consistently “minimized” the facts and lied about crucial details as the two told inconsistent stories over the ensuing days and weeks.

Brandow claimed he had been feeding the baby and it choked, McMenemy said, but Scutt had supposedly fed the baby before she left for the store. Brandow claimed the baby rolled over and fell off the bed, and Scutt never came forward to say that, at just 10-weeks old, the baby couldn’t roll herself. Finally, during an interview with a Pittsfield detective, Scutt admitted that she saw Brandow shake the baby, McMenemy said.

“Janan Scutt is not charged with shaking (the baby),” McMenemy told jurors during her closing argument. “She is charged with permitting Marlin Brandow to do so. If we take her own statements at face value, she admitted that she saw him shake the baby.”

Brandow was convicted last year of allowing the baby to be injured and is serving a 2- to 4-year prison sentence.

But defense attorney Nathaniel K. Green said Scutt’s statement is not a smoking gun. Scutt meant that Brandow was often rough with the baby, Green said, not that she saw him shake the baby so vigorously that the infant stopped breathing.

Testimony and evidence showed that Scutt’s walk to the supermarket took nine or 10 minutes. She spent 20 minutes in the store and then walked back. Expert witness testimony from a pediatrician suggested that the baby’s injuries were most likely inflicted during those crucial 40 minutes, Green said.

When police and paramedics asked her what happened, Green said, “She does not know what happened to the baby … (and) for whatever reason, she does not want to believe that Marlin Brandow did something to the baby. So when he tells her he was feeding the baby (and the baby choked), she accepts it.”

The jury, however, concluded otherwise.