Expert Witness

Name: People v. Sedano (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 474
Case #: F082933
District 5 DCA
Opinion Date: 02/21/2023
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Expert Witness

Trial court properly admitted CSAAS expert testimony, including statistics, regarding the prevalence of (1) preexisting relationships between the abuser and abused and (2) delayed disclosure of molestations. Sedano was convicted of several sex offenses against his adoptive niece. At trial,…

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Name: People v. Presley
Case #: C090439
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 06/16/2021
Subsequent History: Ordered Published 6/28/21
  • Categories: Civil Commitments, Evidence, Expert Witness, Hearsay, SVP

In a court trial on defendant's commitment as a sexually violent predator (SVP), the trial court did not abuse its discretion under People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665 in relying on expert testimony, where nothing in the record suggests…

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Name: People v. Soriano
Case #: G058363
Court: US Court of Appeals
District 4 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 06/08/2021
  • Categories: Evidence, Expert Witness, Gang Affiliation, Insufficiency/Sufficiency of

Gang expert opinion based on mere speculation as to probabilities, rather than reasonable inferences drawn from observable facts, does not provide substantial evidence to support a gang enhancement. Soriano, a gang member, was walking in his gang's territory with an…

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Name: Hulbert v. Cross
Case #: C090663
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 06/11/2021
  • Categories: Areas Constitutional Law, Evidence, Expert Witness, Other, Right to Counsel, Scope of Right

In a medical malpractice action filed by an indigent inmate, the trial court denied the plaintiff meaningful access to the courts when it refused his motion for appointment of an expert. Hulbert, a self-represented indigent inmate, filed a medical malpractice…

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Name: People v. Lemke
Case #: S250108
Court: CA Supreme Court
District CalSup
Opinion Date: 05/27/2021
  • Categories: By CALCRIM Number, Evidence, Expert Witness, Jury Instructions

Opinion By: Justice Groban (unanimous decision) Although the witness certainty factor in the eyewitness identification instruction (CALCRIM No. 315) could be misleading, the instruction did not violate defendant's due process rights to a fair trial when considered in the context…

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Name: People v. Lund
Case #: A157205
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 4
Opinion Date: 06/01/2021
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Expert Witness, Hearsay, Scientific Evidence

Officers' reliance on software program's data to connect defendant to hard drives containing child pornography files did not violate Sanchez. At defendant's trial for possessing more than 600 images of child pornography, two police investigators testified that they used a…

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Name: In re Long
Case #: S249274
Court: CA Supreme Court
District CalSup
Opinion Date: 11/30/2020
  • Categories: Evidence, Expert Witness, Extraordinary Remedies, Habeas Corpus (State), Ineff. Assist. Counsel (IAC), Right to Counsel

Opinion By: Justice Liu (unanimous decision) Trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to consult a time of death expert where the timeline was crucial to the defense theory of the case. In 2005, petitioner Long was convicted of the…

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Name: People v. Veamatahau
Case #: S249872
Court: CA Supreme Court
District CalSup
Opinion Date: 02/27/2020
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Expert Witness, Hearsay, Scientific Evidence

Expert's testimony that he used on an online pharmaceutical database to determine that pills seized from defendant contained a controlled substance was not inadmissible case-specific hearsay. Defendant was charged with a number of offenses, including possession of a controlled substance,…

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Name: People v. Perez
Case #: S248730
Court: CA Supreme Court
District CalSup
Opinion Date: 02/27/2020
  • Categories: Areas Constitutional Law, Confront/Cross-exam, Evidence, Expert Witness, Gang Affiliation, Waiver

Defendant's failure to object at trial, before People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665 was decided, did not forfeit a claim that a gang expert's testimony related case-specific hearsay in violation of the confrontation clause. Perez, Chavez, and Sandoval were…

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Name: People v. Polk
Case #: E069641
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 06/14/2019
  • Categories: Evidence, Expert Witness, Insufficiency/Sufficiency of

There was sufficient evidence that defendant possessed a useable quantity of methamphetamine on small pieces of paper based on circumstantial evidence and expert testimony from a correctional officer. Polk, an inmate at a California Rehabilitation Center, was found in his…

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