KIM
E. LOGERQUIST, a single woman, Petitioner, v. HON. MICHAEL R. McVEY, JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA,
in and for the County of Maricopa, Respondent Judge, JOHN T. DANFORTH, M.D. and
MARY JEAN DANFORTH, his wife; JOHN T. DANFORTH, P.C., Real Parties in
Interest.
Supreme Court No. CV-98-0587-PR
SUPREME
COURT OF ARIZONA
196 Ariz. 470; 1 P.3d 113; 2000 Ariz. LEXIS 30; 320 Ariz.
Adv. Rep. 15
April 19, 2000, Filed
PRIOR HISTORY:
Court of Appeals No. 1 CA-SA 98-0301. Maricopa
County No. CV 92-16309. Special Action from the
Superior Court in Maricopa County. The Honorable Michael R. McVey,
Judge.
DISPOSITION:
VACATED AND REMANDED.
CORE CONCEPTS
Evidence : Relevance : Prior Acts, Crimes &
Wrongs
Ariz. R. Evid. 404(c)(1)(C)
applies in both civil and criminal cases and permits proof of other acts of an
aberrant sexual nature to prove propensity to commit the act charged.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Ariz. R. Evid. 702 allows a plaintiff to call expert
witnesses to explain her behavior following the events alleged and to help the
jury determine whether plaintiff's memories are real and accurate or imagined.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
The trial judge has discretion to allow
expert testimony under Ariz. R. Evid. 702 where it may assist
the jury in deciding a contested issue, including issues pertaining to accuracy
or credibility of a witness' recollection or testimony. The trial judge
may exercise this discretion where there is a reasonable basis to believe that
the jury will benefit from the assistance of expert testimony that explains
recognized principles of social or behavioral science which the jury may apply
to determine issues in the case. Testimony of this type is not to be permitted
in every case, but only in those where the facts needed to make the ultimate
judgment may not be within the common knowledge of the ordinary juror.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Expert opinion on probability percentages
based on computations derived from deoxyribonucleic acid statistics was
inadmissible under Frye because the statistical bases and resultant formulae
applied to reach the conclusion were not yet generally accepted.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Frye is inapplicable to expert testimony
on child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Opinion testimony on human behavior is
admissible when relevant to an issue in the case, when such testimony will aid
in understanding evidence outside the experience or knowledge of the average
juror, and when the witness is qualified, as Ariz. R. Evid. 702 requires, by
knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education. To put it simply, Frye is
inapplicable when a qualified witness offers relevant testimony or conclusions
based on experience and observation about human behavior for the purpose of
explaining that behavior.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Although compliance with Frye is
necessary when the scientist reaches a conclusion by applying a scientific
theory or process based on the work or discovery of others, under Ariz. R.
Evid. 702 and 703 experts may testify concerning their own experimentation and
observation and opinions based on their own work without first showing general
acceptance. Such evidence need only meet the traditional requirements of
relevance and avoid substantial prejudice, confusion, or waste of time.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
District courts are not required to admit
opinion evidence which is connected to existing data only by the ipse dixit of the expert. A court may conclude that there is
simply too great an analytical gap between the data and the opinion proffered.
Evidence : Procedural Considerations : Preliminary
Questions
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Questions about the accuracy and
reliability of a witness' factual basis, data, and methods go to the weight and
credibility of the witness' testimony and are questions of fact. The right to
jury trial does not turn on the judge's preliminary assessment of testimonial
reliability. It is the jury's function to determine accuracy, weight, or
credibility.
Evidence : Procedural Considerations : Rulings on
Evidence
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Arizona's constitutional right to a jury
trial does not, of course, forbid the trial judge from ruling on admission of
evidence. The judge may certainly do so, and when the testimony is based on a
novel scientific principle that the witness has taken from others and applied
to the case at hand, the judge may, as a matter of foundation, require a
showing of general acceptance. The Daubert/Joiner/Kumho trilogy of cases,
however, puts the judge in the position of passing on the weight or credibility
of the expert's testimony.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Ariz. R. Evid. 702 conditions
admission of opinion evidence in part on the judge's determination that the
evidence will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to
determine a fact in issue.
Evidence : Relevance
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Ariz. R. Evid. 403. permits
trial judges to reject even relevant evidence that meets the Ariz. R. Evid. 702
test if the probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair
prejudice, confusion or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue
delay, waste of time.
Evidence : Witnesses : Court-Appointed Experts
Ariz. R. Evid. 706 permits a
judge in such an extraordinary situation to appoint an expert and sets forth
the procedure to be followed.
Evidence : Witnesses : Expert Testimony
Frye is applicable when an expert witness
reaches a conclusion by deduction from the application of novel scientific
principles, formulae, or procedures developed by others. It is inapplicable
when a witness reaches a conclusion by inductive reasoning based on his or her
own experience, observation, or research. In the latter case, the validity of
the premise is tested by interrogation of the witness; in the former case, it
is tested by inquiring into general acceptance.
COUNSEL:
Turley Swan & Childers, P.C.,
Phoenix, By: Kent E. Turley, Attorneys for Petitioner.
Teilborg Sanders & Parks, P.C., Phoenix, By:
Frank A. Parks, Kari B. Zangerle, Donald A. Lawson,
Attorneys for Real Parties in Interest.
JUDGES:
En Banc. FELDMAN. ZLAKET. JONES. MARTONE.
McGREGOR.
OPINIONBY:
STANLEY G. FELDMAN
OPINION:
OPINION
FELDMAN, Justice
P1 Applying the rule of Frye v. United States, 54 App. D.C.
46, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923), the trial judge entered an order precluding
"expert testimony of Plaintiff's alleged repressed memory." We
granted review to clarify Rule 702, Arizona Rules of Evidence, which governs
the admission of opinion testimony.
P2 The construction and application of Rule 702 has become an
issue of nationwide concern following the United States Supreme Court's opinion
in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 125
L. Ed. 2d 469 (1993). Daubert and its progeny reject the Frye test and construe
Rule 702, Federal Rules of Evidence, to create a "gatekeeper"
function for federal judges. The question of whether to apply
Frye or Daubert to Ariz.R.Evid. 702 appears with increasing frequency and creates uncertainty in
this and many other cases pending in our trial courts. To settle this policy
question for Arizona courts, we take the rare step of reviewing the propriety
of the trial court's interlocutory order. See Piner
v. Superior Court, 192 Ariz. 182, 184-85, 962 P.2d 909, 911-12 (1998);
Summerfield v. Superior Court, 144 Ariz. 467, 469, 698 P.2d 712, 714 (1985). We
have jurisdiction under Arizona Constitution art. VI, § 5(4).
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
P3 Kim Logerquist (Plaintiff)
alleges that her pediatrician (Defendant) sexually abused her on several
occasions between 1971 and 1973, when she was eight to ten years old. Plaintiff
further alleges that she had amnesia about those events until 1991, when her
memory was triggered by watching a television commercial featuring a
pediatrician. She sought "to introduce evidence, through expert testimony,
that severe childhood trauma, including sexual abuse, can cause a repression of memory, and that
in later years this memory can be recalled with accuracy." Minute Entry Order, June 11, 1998, at 1 (hereafter June 11 Order).
P4 Over objection, the trial judge granted Defendant's motion
that a Frye hearing be held to assess the admissibility of expert testimony
regarding repressed memory. Two experts testified at this hearing. Plaintiff
called Dr. Bessell van der Kolk,
a clinical psychiatrist who specializes in dissociative
amnesia. He testified regarding the large number of patients who alleged such
phenomenon and about his diagnoses of dissociative
amnesia or post-traumatic stress disorder in such patients. He would testify,
among other things, that his experience and observations over many years,
together with the extensive literature on the subject, have led him to conclude
the phenomenon exists in some patients. Defendant's expert, Dr. Richard Kihlstrom, a research psychologist, testified there were
serious flaws in the many studies supporting repressed memory and cited other
studies finding trauma usually enhances memory rather than causes amnesia.
Doctor Kihlstrom did not, however, have any personal
experience treating or dealing with people claiming to suffer from repressed
memory; nor had he participated in any studies on trauma's effect on memory.
P5 After a lengthy hearing, the trial judge determined the
"theories advanced by Plaintiff's experts are not generally accepted in
the relevant scientific community of trauma memory researchers." June 11
Order, at 4. The judge therefore "ORDERED excluding expert testimony of
Plaintiff's alleged repressed memory, and Plaintiff's theory that such evidence
can be recalled with accuracy." Id.
P6 Because this interlocutory order was not appealable,
Plaintiff sought review by special action in the court of appeals. See
Rule 1, Arizona Rules of Procedure for Special Actions. The court of appeals
declined jurisdiction, and Plaintiff sought review by this court. We granted
review for the reasons stated at the beginning of this opinion, allowed
supplemental briefing, and heard oral argument. The first question accepted for
review was whether Frye or Daubert applied. We conclude Frye was inapplicable
and reject Daubert as it has been interpreted in the cases that have followed
it. n1 We now vacate the order excluding expert
testimony.
n1 The second question accepted was
whether, assuming Frye applied, the trial judge abused his discretion by
concluding the theory of repressed memory, post-traumatic stress disorder, or dissociative amnesia did not meet the general acceptance
test. The cases have split on that question. See Martone
dissent at P81. From the record, one might conclude that in finding a lack of
general acceptance, the judge gave undue weight to the views of research
psychologists and too little to those of clinicians--psychiatrists and
psychologists--who work in the field. But we need not resolve the problem
because we conclude that Frye was inapplicable.
DISCUSSION
A. Contentions of the parties
P7 Plaintiff contends the June 11 Order, based on the Frye
principle, is incorrect because Frye is inapplicable.
If the Frye test were applicable to the evidence Plaintiff seeks to adduce,
Plaintiff argues that it should be discarded in favor of Daubert's test of
reliability. Defendant, on the other hand, believes that Frye applies to the
testimony and the trial judge correctly concluded the principles explained by
Doctor van der Kolk had not gained general acceptance,
so that expert testimony regarding these principles was therefore inadmissible.
In the event Frye is found to be inapplicable or is abandoned by this court,
Defendant argues that the Daubert test should be applied and the trial judge
had discretion as "gatekeeper" to preclude the evidence.
P8 Other courts have reached conflicting decisions on these
questions. See, e.g., Shahzade v. Gregory, 923 F. Supp. 286 (D.Mass.
1996) (applying Daubert but finding general acceptance and admitting evidence);
Wilson v. Phillips, 73 Cal. App. 4th 250, 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d 204 (App. 1999)
(Frye inapplicable, testimony like Dr. van der Kolk's
admissible under expert evidence rule); Doe v. Shults-Lewis
Child & Family Serv., Inc., 718 N.E.2d 738, 750
and n.1 (Ind. 1999) (applying Daubert but refusing "to declare repressed
memory syndrome unreliable"); New Hampshire v. Hungerford, 142 N.H. 110,
697 A.2d 916 (N.H. 1997) (applying Frye and precluding evidence); New Mexico v.
Alberico, 116 N.M. 156, 861 P.2d 192 (N.M. 1993)
(applying Daubert but finding general acceptance and admitting evidence); Rhode
Island v. Quattrocchi, 1999 WL 284882 (R.I.Super. April 26, 1999) (applying Frye
and precluding evidence); Moriarty v. Garden Sanctuary Church of God, 334 S.C.
150, 511 S.E.2d 699 (S.C.App. 1999) (dissociative amnesia or repressed memory syndrome valid
theory under South Carolina standard for admission of scientific evidence).
B. Proceedings in the trial court
P9 We think it necessary to focus on the precise controversy
as defined by the record before the trial court. Plaintiff's complaint, filed
more than twenty years after the incidents and ten years after Plaintiff became
an adult, initially raised questions regarding timeliness. [***7]
The trial judge first granted Defendant's motion to dismiss on the basis
that the action was barred by the statute of limitations. Our court of appeals
reversed that order, without resolving the Frye issue, and remanded for
proceedings not inconsistent with its opinion.
Logerquist v. Danforth, 188 Ariz. 16, 23-24, 932 P.2d 281, 288-89 (App.
1996). We denied review, with Justice Martone
voting to grant.
P10 On remand, and after extensive discovery, Defendant filed a
Motion for Evidentiary Hearing Pursuant to Frye v. United States (hereafter
Frye Motion). Defendant argued that Plaintiff's case is based on scientific
theories that are not readily accepted by the medical and scientific
communities. Further, he contended the memories alleged were not real or
accurate but had been distorted, implanted, or suggested by improper techniques
used by the physician and psychologist treating Plaintiff for emotional
problems. Because the "medical community is unwilling to make a statement
that there is scientific foundation for the accuracy of Ms. Logerquist's claims, it would be inappropriate to allow
her to proceed forward to trial." Frye Motion at 14 (emphasis added).
P11 In response, Plaintiff objected to a Frye hearing. As
permitted by Ariz.R.Evid. 702, Plaintiff's treating
doctors would testify to experience and observation with this and many other
cases dealing with repressed memory, dissociative
amnesia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Even if they gave general
testimony based on the literature covering the subject, and if such testimony
were subject to Frye, they could show general acceptance need not be
non-controversial or universal. Conceding that not all allegedly recovered
memories are accurate or truthful, Plaintiff argued that the question of the
accuracy and credibility of her recollection was for the jury.
P12 In his reply to Plaintiff's response to the Frye Motion,
Defendant argued that:
Plaintiff alleges she suffers from dissociative amnesia. ... The manual in which 'Dissociative Amnesia' is defined also indicates:
There are no tests or set of procedures
that invariably distinguish Dissociative Amnesia from
Malingering, but individuals with Dissociative
Amnesia usually score high on standard measures of hypnotizability
and dissociative capacity. Malingered amnesia is more
common in individuals presenting with acute, florid symptoms in a context in
which potential secondary gain is evident--for example, financial or legal
problems. ...
Care must be exercised in evaluating the
accuracy of retrieved memories, because the informants are often highly
suggestible. There has been considerable controversy concerning amnesia
related to reported physical or sexual abuse, particularly when abuse is
alleged to have occurred during early childhood. Some clinicians believe that
there has been an underreporting of such events, especially because the
victims are often children and perpetrators are inclined to deny or distort
their actions. However, other clinicians are concerned that there may be overreporting, particularly given the unreliability of
childhood memories. There is currently no method for establishing with
certainty the accuracy of such retrieved memories in the absence of
corroborative evidence.
Reply in Support of His Motion for
Evidentiary Hearing Pursuant to Frye (quoting AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION,
DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS IV § 300.12 (1994) (hereafter DSM-IV)).
P13 These pleadings were followed by a veritable blizzard of
paper. Having received a witness list naming Doctor van der Kolk
as Plaintiff's independent (non-treating) expert, Defendant sought by motion to
preclude Doctor van der Kolk from testifying about
the results of animal studies. A separate motion sought to preclude the doctor
from giving any testimony that relied on his own clinical experience. These
were accompanied by a motion to preclude Doctor van der Kolk
from relying on the literature listed in his letter to Plaintiff's counsel. n2
Defendant also moved to preclude the testimony of Plaintiff's treating doctors,
sought an order permitting him to provide additional material to assist the
court in its evaluation of Doctor van der Kolk's
testimony, and moved to strike an affidavit filed in opposition to Defendant's
motion for summary judgment because it contained expert opinion.
n2 That literature is quite conservative,
consisting of a long list of references to articles written by qualified
authorities and published in authoritative texts such as the DSM-IV,
peer-reviewed American journals such as COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY (an article on
post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans) and HARVARD REVIEW OF
PSYCHIATRY. Listed also were authoritative foreign publications such as REVUE
GENERALE DES SCIENCES (France), LANCET (Britain), and the Proceedings of the
Royal Society of Medicine (Britain).
P14 Defendant argued that expert opinion was inadmissible, no
matter what its basis or the subject to which it was directed--whether
repressed memory, dissociative amnesia, or
post-traumatic stress disorder. Defendant maintained that view in arguing to
this court. Plaintiff's position, on the other hand, was set forth in her
response to Defendant's Memorandum to Assist the Court in Evaluating the
Admissibility of Expert Evidence:
This
Response shows that Dr. van der Kolk's personal
experiences and observations in treating hundreds of survivors of childhood
sexual abuse (CSA) that have total or partial amnesia of the CSA are not
subject to the Frye rule. The Response will further show that Dr. van der Kolk should be allowed to testify ... that when some CSA
victims do have delayed memories, that their memories are as reasonably
accurate as normal memories, if not better.
P15 Doctor van der Kolk's February 8,
1998 letter to counsel gives an even better picture of what Defendant sought to
preclude:
I hereby accept your invitation to
testify. ... I intend to testify that amnesia for traumatic experiences,
including for sexual abuse, has been documented in numerous scientific reports
for over a century, and that this notion is, in fact, so well accepted in the
relevant scientific community that it has not only been incorporated in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American
Psychiatric Association within the very criterion set for Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder, but also under a separate rubric of Dissociative
Amnesia. It has been further amplified in the official statement of the
American Psychiatric Association on Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse. I am
the Director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, MA, which specializes in the
treatment and research of individuals who suffer from the psychological effects
of trauma. I have conducted numerous studies on the nature of the human
response to trauma, including specifically on memory processes in responses.
P16 The letter then listed some of the articles and books
Doctor van der Kolk planned to rely on in his
testimony. The extensive bibliography that followed has been described in
footnote 2, supra. Included were cites to seven items written by Doctor
van der Kolk himself. Almost all were articles published
in prestigious, peer-reviewed
journals such as the HARVARD REVIEW OF PSYCHIATRY and the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
PSYCHIATRY. Doctor van der Kolk's qualifications were
also of record. See Appendix A. They clearly establish his extensive
education, training, and experience in psychology and psychiatry and
specifically in the study and treatment of dissociative
amnesia.
P17 It is apparent we are not dealing with an alchemist
attempting to change lead into gold or an astrologer predicting events from the
movements of the stars but one of the leading researchers and authorities in
behavioral science. It would be strange that a witness so well qualified and
experienced would not be permitted to testify on an issue beyond the experience
of the average juror. Nevertheless, the trial judge's June 11 Order was quite
broad. He first cited to DSM-IV § 300.12 "to support [Plaintiff's]
contention that dissociative amnesia is generally
accepted in the relevant scientific community." However, the judge noted,
that same section provides the cautionary note previously quoted in P12. After
reviewing similar cautionary notes in other studies, the judge concluded:
Finally,
this Court has carefully considered the various studies relied upon by Plaintiff's
expert. Studies in the area of the effect of trauma upon memory are in their
infancy. This Court has concluded that these studies contain serious
methodological flaws, and that these flaws have prevented Plaintiff's theory
from being generally accepted in the relevant scientific community of trauma
memory researchers. These methodological flaws include, but are not limited to,
inadequate sample sizes, gender bias, consideration of other reasons for loss
of memory (i.e., infantile amnesia), and perhaps most importantly, independent
corroboration that the event alleged to have been forgotten, actually occurred.
n3
n3 The trial judge was probably referring
to lack of corroboration in some of the cases reported in the literature;
however, there may be corroborative evidence in the present case. Following
publication of a newspaper article about this case, two women came forward and
reported other acts allegedly committed by Defendant. Defendant moved to
preclude the women's testimony, claiming it was evidence of habit, character,
or propensity and excludable under Rules 403 and 404, Ariz.R.Evid.
Plaintiff argued the evidence was admissible under Rule 404 (c)(1)(C). So far as we can tell, the motion was not ruled on.
We do not address admissibility except to note that Rule 404(c)(1)(C) applies in both civil and criminal cases and permits
proof of other acts of an aberrant sexual nature to prove propensity to
commit the act charged. It is often so applied in criminal cases involving
alleged sexual crimes.
For
the reasons set forth above, this Court has concluded that the theories
advanced by Plaintiff's experts are not generally accepted in the relevant
scientific community of trauma memory researchers. Therefore,
IT IS
ORDERED excluding expert testimony of Plaintiff's alleged repressed
memory, and Plaintiff's theory that such evidence can be recalled with
accuracy.
June 11 Order (emphasis added).
P18 As Defendant indicated at argument, this order not only
precluded Doctor van der Kolk's testimony but effectively
precluded that of Plaintiff's treating physicians. Even assuming Plaintiff
would be allowed to testify about her memory, this
left her in the pragmatically impossible situation of having no evidence to
support her testimony but nevertheless having to persuade the jury that she had
suffered dissociative amnesia and that her recall
could have been accurate. On the other hand, Defendant would presumably be able
to call his expert to testify that Plaintiff's recollection was incredible or,
at best, inaccurate. The preclusion order, in other words, as effectively took
the case from the jury as if the judge had granted summary judgment or directed
a verdict. We turn, therefore, to consider the legal propriety of the June 11
Order.
C. Was Frye properly applied
P19 By its own words, Frye applies to the use of novel
scientific theories or processes to produce results. At the outset, we note
that neither Plaintiff nor her lawyers argue that any scientific principle or
process can be used to produce memories that are always or often accurate. As a matter of scientific principle, one may
now say that E always equals MC<2>, but Plaintiff does not claim that
some scientific process, theory, or formula may be applied to test whether her
memories of having been molested are true and accurate or whether the memories
were imagined, suggested, implanted, or even, to put it tactfully, invented.
One may or may not believe Plaintiff. The effect of the June 11 Order is to
practically ensure Plaintiff's testimony will not be believed because she will
not be allowed to present expert evidence to describe or support the possible
existence or diagnosis of repressed memory or dissociative
amnesia.
P20 We believe, however, that the truth of Plaintiff's
testimony that she actually and accurately recalled or remembered the events,
as distinguished from inventing them or having had them suggested or implanted,
is for a jury to decide. While Defendant contends the alleged loss of memory
and consequent delay in reporting make Plaintiff's testimony unworthy of
belief, in this, as in other cases, Rule 702 allows Plaintiff to call expert
witnesses to explain her behavior following the events alleged and to help the
jury determine whether Plaintiff's memories are real and accurate or imagined.
We have so held on just such issues in the criminal law.
P21 In State v. Lindsey, for example, we dealt with the
question of expert testimony regarding "behavior patterns of victims of
'in-home incestuous-type [child] molesting.'" 149 Ariz.
472, 473, 720 P.2d 73, 74 (1986). The court of appeals noted that the
evidence was offered to explain why child victims of incest may not reveal the
events until long after the occurrence and why they may recant. State v. Lindsey, 149 Ariz. 493, 495-96, 720 P.2d 94, 96-97 (App. 1985). The trial judge overruled
defendant's Frye objection to the opinion evidence. Lindsey, 149 Ariz. at 476, 720 P.2d at 77. The Martone
dissent makes much of the fact that the expert testimony was based on
"recognized principles of social and behavioral science." But Doctor
van der Kolk's testimony is similarly based on
principles of social and behavioral science recognized by clinicians. There was
no Frye hearing in Lindsey. Defendant's Frye objection was overruled because
the judge "determined Doctor Baker was qualified to testify because she
had practiced" in the field, "saw patients" suffering from child
sexual abuse, consulted with state agencies and case workers, and made
"decisions and plans on specific cases [as well as doing] psychological
evaluation of child victims and [having] seen over 100 victims, mostly in the
family-type situation." Id. at 497, 720 P.2d at
98. We had the following comment regarding the propriety of admitting
such testimony:
The trial judge has discretion to allow
such expert testimony [under Rule 702] where it may assist the jury in deciding
a contested issue, including issues pertaining to accuracy or credibility of a
witness' recollection or testimony. The trial judge may exercise this
discretion where there is a reasonable basis to believe that the jury will
benefit from the assistance of expert testimony that explains recognized
principles of social or behavioral science which the jury may apply to
determine issues in the case. Testimony of this type is not to be permitted in
every case, but only in those where the facts needed to make the ultimate
judgment may not be within the common knowledge of the ordinary juror.
The court of appeals correctly concluded
that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in permitting ... testimony
on general patterns of behavior. We cannot assume that the average juror is
familiar with the behavioral characteristics of victims of child molesting.
Knowledge of such characteristics may well aid the jury in weighing the testimony
of the alleged child victim. Children who have been the victims of sexual abuse
or molestation may exhibit behavioral patterns (e.g. recantation,
conflicting versions of events, confusion or inarticulate descriptions) which
jurors might attribute to inaccuracy or prevarication, but which may be merely
the result of immaturity, psychological stress, societal pressures or similar
factors as well as of their interaction.
Id.
at 473-74, 720 P.2d at 74-75 (citations omitted); see also State v.
Moran, 151 Ariz. 378, 728 P.2d 248 (1986).
P22 In State v. Roscoe, we again dealt with behavioral
evidence, though of a much different sort. We held a dog handler's opinion on
the alleged ability of his tracking dog to identify scent long after it was
laid down was admissible and Frye inapplicable.
State v. Roscoe, 145 Ariz. 212, 219-20, 700 P.2d 1312,
1319-20 (1984). [***20] We
explained:
The evidence here was not bottomed on any
scientific theory. In fact, it appears that no one knows exactly how or why
some dogs are able to track or scent, or the degree to which they are able to
do so. No attempt was made to impress the jury with the infallibility of some
general scientific technique or theory. Rather, this evidence was offered on
the basis that it is common knowledge that some dogs, when properly trained and
handled, can discriminate between human odors. Preston's
testimony was premised upon this simple idea and was not offered as a product
of the application of some accepted scientific process, principle, technique or
device. It was offered as Preston's opinion
of the meaning of his dog's reaction; that opinion was based upon Preston's training of and experience with the dog.
The weight of the evidence did not hinge upon the validity or accuracy of some
scientific principle; rather, it hinged on Preston's
credibility, the accuracy of his past observation of the dog's performance, the
extent of the training he had given the dog, and the reliability of his
interpretations of the dog's reactions. It was not the theories of Newton,
Einstein or Freud which gave the evidence weight; if so, the Frye test
should have been applied. It was, rather, Preston's
knowledge, experience and integrity which would give the evidence weight and it
was Preston who was available for cross-examination. His credentials, his
experience, his motives and his integrity were effectively probed and tested.
Determination of these issues does not depend on science; it is the exclusive
province of the jury.
Id. (citations omitted); see also Brooks
v. Colorado, 975 P.2d 1105 (Colo. 1999) (similar experience-based testimony
subject to Rule 702 analysis, not Frye); Louisiana v. Catanese,
368 So. 2d 975 (La.
1979) (excluding polygraph evidence using equivalent of Ariz.R.Evid.
702). It turned out that the witness presenting the dog-scent evidence in
Roscoe was a charlatan. See State v. Roscoe, 184 Ariz.
484, 910 P.2d 635 (1996) (Roscoe II). But neither Rule
702 (with or without Frye), Daubert/Kumho, nor any other system can
guarantee the validity of any particular evidentiary ruling. Just as the
refusal to apply Frye to Preston's dog-scent evidence
led to the admission of false testimony, so the application of Frye or Daubert
could well have led to the exclusion of testimony from Einstein or Freud, both
of whom advanced theories not generally accepted for many years. See
CLIFFORD M. WILL, WAS EINSTEIN RIGHT? (1986).
P23 In State v. Hummert, we held that
expert opinion on probability percentages based on computations derived from
DNA statistics was inadmissible under Frye because the statistical bases and
resultant formulae applied to reach the conclusion were not yet generally
accepted. The expert's opinion--the final result--was based on a process or
formula established by others and not generally acknowledged by scientists and
statisticians in that field. State v. Hummert, 188 Ariz. 119, 124-25,
933 P.2d 1187, 1192-93 (1997). But we also held that the expert could
relate his experience in the field to the facts and that an opinion based on
his observations and experience would be admissible. Id. at 125, 933 P.2d at 1193. This was not, as the Martone
dissent claims, because the DNA principle passed the Frye test. See Martone dissent at P83. It was, rather, because the
opinions offered on random [***23] match frequency, while not generally
accepted, passed the Ariz.R.Evid. 702 test of witness
observation and experience. We explained:
The experts' testimony in the present
case involved two types of evidence--scientific evidence on the procedures for
determining a match between evidentiary DNA and opinion evidence concerning the
experts' experience with random matches. The trial judge properly applied the Frye
analysis and determined that evidence of a match is admissible. However, on the
basis of the scientific evidence then available, the judge did not allow the
experts to testify about the mathematical or statistical probability resulting
from the match. Instead, the experts were allowed to offer evidence of [**121] [*478]
their personal opinion. This testimony is governed not by the
application of Frye but by Arizona Rules of Evidence 702 and 703.
"Frye-ing" scientific evidence is necessary
when application of a scientific technique is "likely to have an enormous
effect in resolving completely a matter in controversy." However, when the expert gives testimony that "only helps a
trier to interpret the evidence ... it will be received on a lesser showing of
scientific certainty. " As we stated in Roscoe, "the weight of
the evidence did not hinge upon the validity or accuracy of some scientific
principle; rather, it hinged on [the expert's] credibility, the accuracy of his
past observation ... the extent of the training ... and the reliability of his
interpretations. ..." The experts in this case did not testify to
conclusions based on the application of Cellmark's
statistics and database but only to their own experience. Having made the DNA
examination according to recognized scientific principles and finding a match
at three loci, the experts claimed that because of the unique nature of each
person's DNA, they had never before seen a three-loci match from unrelated
individuals. On the basis of their own experience, they believed such a random
match would be very uncommon. The trial judge did not err in admitting this
evidence of the experts' own work and experience and the opinions reached on
that basis. See Ariz.R.Evid. 702 and 703.
Id.
at 124-25, 933 P.2d at 1192-93 (citations omitted).
P24 Many cases in our courts, and in those of other states with
rules similar to our Ariz.R.Evid. 702,
reach similar conclusions in dealing with expert opinion in matters of
behavioral science. Our court of appeals concluded that Frye was inapplicable
to expert testimony on child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS). State v. Varela, 178 Ariz.
319, 873 P.2d 657 (App. 1993). The court remarked that "testimony
concerning general characteristics of child sexual abuse victims is not 'new,
novel or experimental scientific evidence' and therefore does not require the
additional screening provided by Frye." Id. at 325-26, 873 P.2d at
663-64 (quoting People v. Stoll, 49 Cal. 3d 1136, 783 P.2d 698, 714, 265 Cal.
Rptr. 111 (Cal. 1989)); see also State v. Tucker, 165 Ariz. 340, 346,
798 P.2d 1349, 1355 (App. 1990) (behavioral characteristics of child molesters
and victims); Ohio v. Stowers, 81 Ohio St. 3d 260,
690 N.E.2d 881 (Ohio 1998) (Frye inapplicable to expert's testimony that
alleged child victim's behavior, including delayed disclosure and recantation,
is consistent with behavior expert observed in victims of CSAAS).
P25 Of course in Varela and Tucker, as in the other cases
cited, the testimony was not offered as direct proof that sexual abuse occurred
but as an explanation of behavior that would help the jury understand the
evidence and determine whether the charge was true. See also Frenzel v. Wyoming, 849 P.2d 741 (Wyo. 1993) (although
CSAAS is not yet generally accepted and thus not admissible to prove sexual
abuse actually occurred, expert testimony based on experience, observation, and
literature may be admitted to explain behavior of alleged victim, including
delayed reporting); cf. Lantrip v. Kentucky,
713 S.W.2d 816 (Ky. 1986) (an example of cases holding CSAAS not generally
accepted, therefore testimony inadmissible); see also Isely v. Capuchin Province, 877 F. Supp. 1055 (E.D.Mich. 1995) (evidence such as Dr. van der Kolk's admissible, but expert may not testify about
victim's credibility).
P26 We have reached similar conclusions in rape cases. In
upholding a rape conviction based in part on psychiatric testimony regarding
the way in which post-traumatic stress syndrome might have affected the
victim's behavior, we noted that courts in other states disagreed on the
admissibility of so-called rape trauma syndrome to prove the rape occurred but
nevertheless concluded:
Although we might have some difficulty in
upholding the admissibility of rape trauma syndrome to prove the existence of a
rape, we believe, however, if properly presented by a person qualified by training
and experience such as a psychiatrist or psychologist, that such evidence is
admissible to show lack of consent. This testimony would not invade the
province of the jury. The expert would be subject to cross-examination and the
jury could then determine what weight the evidence is to receive.
State v. Huey, 145 Ariz. 59, 63, 699 P.2d 1290, 1294 (1985).
P27 Other states have reached similar conclusions with regard
to rape trauma syndrome. The California Supreme Court, for example, applied
Frye and concluded that expert testimony was not admissible to prove that rape
occurred. If factually relevant, however, it would have been admissible to
explain behavior following the incident and to rebut popular misconceptions
that might have given credence to a defendant's argument that the victim's
delayed reporting or other behavior would justify an inference that rape had
not occurred. People v. Bledsoe, 36 Cal.
3d 236, 681 P.2d 291, 298-99, 203 Cal. Rptr. 450, (Cal. 1984); see also
Colorado v. Hampton, 746 P.2d 947, 949-52 (Colo. 1987) (collecting cases and
holding that Frye test inapplicable when behavioral testimony offered to
explain ninety-day reporting delay).
P28 These principles are not limited to criminal cases. The
same rationale is applied in cases involving medical causation and
techniques. Gilkey
v. Schweitzer, 1999 MT 188, 983 P.2d 869, 295 Mont. 345 (Mont. 1999)
(evidentiary standards applicable to novel scientific evidence should not have
been applied to preclude anesthesiologist's expert opinion that placement of
catheter while patient was anesthetized increased risk of injury). In a recent
case in which the operative facts are quite similar to those in this case, the
court was required to decide whether a physician's testimony based on experience,
observation, and study of literature was admissible on the question of whether
stress could trigger otherwise asymptomatic multiple sclerosis. Colwell v. Mentzer Inc., Inc., 973 P.2d 631 (Colo.App.
1998). Refusing to apply Frye and using a version of Rule 702 identical
to Arizona's, the court blended a number of theories but held the testimony
should be admitted. The admissibility of such testimony should be determined by
balancing
(1) the
reliability of the scientific principles upon which the testimony rests, i.e.,
the potential to aid the jury in reaching an accurate resolution of a disputed
issue, and (2) the likelihood that the introduction of the evidence may
overwhelm or mislead the jury.
***The
reliability inquiry does not require a process of scientific
"nose-counting." Rather, a court should consider factors such as the
degree of acceptance in the scientific community, the novelty of the scientific
principle, and the existence of specialized literature on the subject.
***The
expert's qualifications and expertise in the area of MS were not disputed, and
the trial court determined that his testimony would be helpful to the trier of
fact. His testimony did not involve the application of any novel or newly
developed scientific device or process, nor did it involve the manipulation of
physical evidence. Rather, it concerned his observations of thousands of cases
of MS and review of studies by others.
Plaintiff's
expert, a board certified neurologist, testified that he has been in practice
for over 40 years. At the time of the
trial he taught at Harvard Medical School and ran the multiple sclerosis
project at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He testified that
over the course of his career he had seen between 5,000 and 6,000 MS patients.
In his opinion, certain kinds of stress in some patients with MS can trigger
the appearance of symptoms in an asymptomatic patient. ...
The
evidence presented at trial concerned the effect that stress could have in
causing MS to become symptomatic. Such testimony would assist the trier of fact
in understanding the evidence of what researchers in the field have discovered.
Thus, the evidence satisfies the threshold inquiry.
Id. at 636-37 (citations omitted).
P29 Finally, a recent California case directly on point puts
the matter quite well. The plaintiffs claimed their memory of sexual abuse by
their father and stepfather had been repressed and then fortuitously triggered.
They offered expert evidence by a psychologist who specialized in the field of
sexual abuse and memory. The California court refused to apply either Frye or
Daubert and affirmed the trial judge's refusal to hold a Frye hearing, holding the judge correctly
admitted the expert's opinion that the circumstances and plaintiffs' behavior
were "consistent with other individuals who had repressed their memories
of childhood sexual abuse." Wilson v. Phillips, 73 Cal. App. 4th 250, 86
Cal. Rptr. 2d 204, 206 (1999). The court explained:
California distinguishes between expert
medical opinion and scientific evidence; the former is not subject to the
special admissibility rule of Kelly-Frye. Kelly-Frye applies to cases involving
novel devices or processes, not to expert medical testimony, such as a
psychiatrist's prediction of future dangerousness or a diagnosis of mental
illness.
Similarly,
the testimony of a psychologist who assesses whether a criminal defendant
displays signs of deviance or abnormality is not subject to Kelly-Frye.
Id. at 207 (quoting People v. Ward, 71 Cal. App. 4th 368, 83
Cal. Rptr. 2d 828, 833 (1999) (Frye inapplicable to psychologist's opinion of
defendant's propensity to repeat sexually violent behavior)). The Martone dissent labels Wilson a "renegade" case. Martone dissent
at P81. In fact, it is simply the latest in a long line of California
cases refusing to apply Frye to testimony like that offered from Doctor van der
Kolk. See Wilson, 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d at 206-08
(citing cases).
P30 There are many more cases, with varying rationales and
conclusions, but we extract and apply the same rule that our courts have
previously applied in cases involving Ariz.R.Evid.
702. See, e.g., Huey, 145 Ariz. 59, 699 P.2d 1290; Lindsey, 149 Ariz.
472, 720 P.2d 73; and Moran, 151 Ariz. 378, 728 P.2d 248. Opinion testimony on
human behavior is admissible when relevant to an issue in the case, when such
testimony will aid in understanding evidence outside the experience or
knowledge of the average juror, and when the witness is qualified, as Ariz.R.Evid. 702 requires, by "knowledge, skill, experience,
training, or education." To put it simply, Frye is inapplicable when a
qualified witness offers relevant testimony or conclusions based on experience
and observation about human behavior for the purpose of explaining that
behavior. Of course, our cases forbid a witness from expressing an opinion on
the alleged victim's credibility or the truth of allegations of sexual abuse or
rape. This principle applies as well in the present case to Doctor van der Kolk's proposed testimony. Expert testimony is admitted to
explain behavior that a party claims is consistent or inconsistent with the
alleged event. As we said in Hummert:
Although compliance with Frye is
necessary when the scientist reaches a conclusion by applying a scientific
theory or process based on the work or discovery of others, under Rules 702 and
703 experts may testify concerning their own experimentation and observation
and opinions based on their own work without first showing general acceptance.
Such evidence need only meet the traditional requirements of relevance and
avoid substantial prejudice, confusion, or waste of time.
188 Ariz. at 127, 933 P.2d at 1195; see also People v.
McDonald, 37 Cal. 3d 351, 690 P.2d 709, 208 Cal. Rptr. 236 (Cal. 1984).
P31 This does not mean, as the dissenters argue, that we
believe the practice of medicine, including psychiatry, is not based on
science. See Martone dissent at PP79, 87-88;
McGregor dissent at P102. Rather, it means that expert evidence based on a
qualified witness' own experience, observation, and study is treated
differently from opinion evidence based on novel scientific principles advanced
by others. As in the past, Frye continues to apply only to the latter. The June
11 Order applied Frye to prohibit observation-and experience-based expert
testimony about recovered memory, no matter for what purpose offered. Insofar
as it relied on Frye, the order was therefore overbroad and legally erroneous
and must be vacated. See State v. Chapple, 135 Ariz. 281, 297 n.18, 660 P.2d 1208, 1224 n.18 (1983). Because the
evidence in question is not precluded by the Frye test, its admissibility is to
be determined under Ariz.R.Evid. 702.
P32 The Martone dissent misstates and
exaggerates our holding by prophesying that our refusal to apply Frye to Doctor
van der Kolk's testimony means that "any
expert" on human behavior can hereafter be allowed to testify to any
theory, "however farfetched," without any showing of scientific
reliability. Martone dissent at PP80-81. Doctor van der Kolk
is not any expert testifying to farfetched theories. As one glance at his
curriculum vitae shows, he is a very experienced, well recognized, respected
clinician with degrees in psychology and medicine. See Appendix A. He is
asked to testify to his experience and observation in caring for patients, such
as Plaintiff, who report repressed memory of sexual abuse. We hold simply that
he can be asked to testify to his opinions based on the results of his
experience, his observations, his own research and that of others with which he
is familiar, and the care of his patients. It is true that some or many
research psychologists, including Defendant's witness, disagree, mainly because
repressed memory is "woefully short" of empirical verification. See
1 DAVID L. FAIGMAN, DAVID H. KAYE, MICHAEL J. SAKS, & JOSEPH SANDERS,
MODERN SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: THE LAW AND SCIENCE OF EXPERT TESTIMONY § 13-1.5, at 534 (1997). But as the succeeding
paragraph of the cited treatise points out, we must "also balance justice,
fairness, efficiency, and other factors related to [the law's] special role in
American society." Id. at 535. In doing
so, we must decide whether the judge or the jury should resolve the controversy
between clinical psychiatrists and psychologists on the one hand and research
psychologists on the other. This, of course, brings us back again to the
application of Rule 702 and Daubert as interpreted by the cases that follow it.
D. Rule 702 and Daubert
P33 One method of interpreting Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of
Evidence is that adopted by the United States Supreme Court in Daubert. It was
unclear at first whether Daubert applied only to the methodology used to reach
scientific opinions or whether it applied to all opinion evidence offered under
Rule 702. The Court subsequently held that a district judge's reliability
determination applied to both conclusions and methodology and was reviewable
only on an abuse of discretion standard.
General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, , 118 S. Ct. 512, 517, 139 L. Ed. 2d
508 (1997). Then in Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, the Court applied
Daubert's gatekeeper concept to the testimony of a tire failure expert,
explaining that the Daubert rule was applicable to all opinion evidence offered
under Fed.R.Evid. 702. Kumho Tire Co.,
Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, , 119 S. Ct. 1167, 1174-75, 143 L.
Ed. 2d 238 (1999).
P34 One treatise has summarized the effect of these three cases
in the following words:
The Kumho
Court explained that the language of Rule 702 makes no relevant distinction
between "scientific" knowledge and "technical" or
"other specialized knowledge." Moreover, such a distinction would be
hard to draw, since there is no clear line that divides scientific from other
types of expert knowledge.
Proposed
amendments to Rule 702 also address the applicability of the Daubert
principles. The Advisory Committee Note to the proposed amended rule states
that expert testimony of all types presents questions of admissibility for the
trial court in deciding whether the evidence is reliable and helpful. The
proposed amendment would provide that all expert testimony must be based on
reliable facts or data and be the product of reliable
principles and methods, and requires the witness to have applied the principles
and methods reliably to the facts of the case.
JACK B. WEINSTEIN & MARGARET A.
BERGER, 4 WEINSTEIN'S FEDERAL EVIDENCE § 702.05[2] [b] (Joseph M. McLaughlin,
ed., 2d ed. 1997) (footnotes omitted).
The
reliability requirement is designed to exclude so-called "junk
science"--conjuring up memories of the phrenology craze where the bumps on
a person's head were felt in order to determine character traits--from federal
courts. At the very least, scientific opinions offered under Rule 702 must be
based on sound scientific methods and valid procedures.
The
primary focus must be on the principles and methods used, not on the
conclusions generated. But conclusions and methodology are "not entirely
distinct from one another." District courts are not required to admit
"opinion evidence which is connected to existing data only by the ipse dixit of the expert. A court may conclude that there is
simply too great an analytical gap between the data and the opinion
proffered."
Id. §
702.05[3] (footnotes omitted). n4
n4 See
also an excellent discussion of the changes the three cases make in the law of
evidence and the problems resulting in an article by Justice Joseph T. Walsh of
the Delaware Supreme Court: Keeping the Gate, 83 JUDICATURE 140 (1999).
P35 Both parties urge that this court adopt the Daubert
interpretation of Ariz.R.Evid. 702. Plaintiff urges
that the record as it stands is sufficient to require admission of Doctor van
der Kolk's testimony, while Defendant argues that the
present record permits us to affirm the trial judge's preclusion ruling under
Daubert or at least to remand so that the trial judge can reconsider his ruling
under Daubert and its progeny.
P36 In Daubert, the Court noted that Frye preceded adoption of
the Rules of Evidence and concluded that those rules had been designed to
liberalize the use and admission of opinion evidence. Daubert,
509 U.S. at , 113 S. Ct. at 2794.
The result reached in Kumho, however, would seem directly opposed to the
principle of liberalized admissibility that engendered the abolition of Frye.
Michael N. Graham, The Daubert Dilemma--At
Last A Viable Solution, 179 F.R.D. 1, 6 (1998) (criticizing Daubert and
urging states to adhere to Frye).
P37 Arizona adopted Frye in 1962. See State v. Valdez,
91 Ariz. 274, 371 P.2d 894 (1962) (precluding polygraph evidence for its
failure to gain general acceptance). We adopted our version of the Rules of
Evidence in 1977. Many courts and commentators believed that Frye "could
be read into the regulation of expert testimony in Rule 702." 22 CHARLES
ALAN WRIGHT & ARTHUR R. MILLER, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 5168.1, at 85
(Supp. 1998); see also MCCORMICK ON EVIDENCE § 203, at 731 (John W. Strong, ed., 5th ed.
1999). Unlike the United States Supreme Court, however, we have left no doubt
whether Ariz.R.Evid. 702 was
intended to abolish the Frye doctrine, for we have continued to apply Frye
since the adoption of Rule 702 and have faced these same questions before.
P38 In State v. Bible, we were asked to abandon Frye, adopt
Daubert, and admit DNA statistical probability evidence. We held the
statistical evidence inadmissible under Frye, pointing out that Daubert was a
departure from Ariz.R.Evid. 702, that the
"nature of [its] requirement is currently unknown, may vary from case to
case and is to be fashioned by trial judges using an analytical framework as
yet unspecified, ... leaving many questions unanswered." State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 580, 858 P.2d 1152, 1183 (1993).
Recognizing the shortcomings in the Frye rule, we nevertheless decided to
postpone deciding whether to adopt Daubert. Id. Presented with the same
question in a later case, we came to the same conclusion: the "federal
courts have not yet had a fair opportunity to apply Daubert; thus it is
too early to properly evaluate it." State v. Johnson,
186 Ariz. 329, 331, 922 P.2d 294, 296 (1996). But Joiner and Kumho now
flesh out Daubert's bare bones, the parties in the present case have argued the
issue, and we must therefore address it to give our trial courts direction on
the issues before them.
P39 Daubert and its progeny have not been received with
unanimous approbation. The dissenters speak of Daubert as if it worked only a
small change, if any, in the law for it only requires the trial judge to
perform the ordinary "legal task of determining both the relevance
and the reliability of scientific foundation." Martone dissent at P91; McGregor
dissent at P103. But Daubert's "shift in perspective is subtle yet
profound. Whereas Frye required judges to survey the pertinent field to assess
the validity of the proffered scientific evidence, Daubert calls upon judges to
assess the merits of the scientific research supporting an expert's opinion. " 1 FAIGMAN, ET AL., supra, at viii. Thus,
leading commentators and authorities in the field of evidence have criticized
it. See, e.g., 29 CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT & VICTOR J. GOLD, FEDERAL
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE §
6266, at 266 n.15 (Supp. 1998) ("Any relevant conclusions
supported by a qualified expert witness should be received unless there are
distinct reasons for exclusion. These are the familiar ones" already
contained in the rules.) (citations omitted).
Professor Wright's criticism is thought-provoking:
Additionally,
the Daubert opinion offers no convincing rationale for a special test for the
admissibility of expert scientific testimony. Many writers have thought that it
was enough to abolish Frye and leave the supposed problems of "junk
science" to the normal rules of relevance. While the Court's opinion
does suggest that the adversary system is better than exclusion as a method of
dealing with neo-phrenologists, the opinion also suggests that motions for
summary judgment or directed verdicts may be employed by judges who don't trust
jurors to treat anticorporate science with the
appropriate disdain. Since those remedies are only effective against those who
bear the burden of proof, this
suggests that the Court supposes that the persons most deserving of special
protection from spurious expertise are corporations and other wealthy
defendants--the very parties most capable of manufacturing or purchasing
questionable scientific opinions.
Finally,
the Daubert opinion appears politically naive about the "methods and
procedures" of both science and evidentiary admissibility. As to the
first, students of science have commented on the fact that peer review and
other techniques of scientific validation suffer from a lack of political
sophistication. This is a serious flaw in relying on those methods to determine
evidentiary admissibility because this politicized science is prevalent in
litigation. The Daubert case is itself a good example. Whether or not Benedictin is capable of causing cancer may be a scientific
question but it is one of a different order from whether birds are descended
from dinosaurs or the Big Bang theory is "true." Broad questions,
such as whether AIDS is caused by the HIV virus, are likely to benefit from the
scientific "adversary system"; narrower questions, such as the
efficacy of the Dalkon shield, are of less general
interest and thus escape more rigorous scientific scrutiny.
Similarly,
the Daubert opinion seems naive about the politics of procedure.
Multi-factored, "flexible" tests of the sort announced in Daubert are
more likely to produce arbitrary results than they are to produce nuanced treatment
of complex questions of admissibility. All the Court would have had to do to
appreciate this was to look at the history of Evidence Rule 403. Similarly,
the Court's suggestion that questions of the validity of scientific evidence be
handled by motions for summary judgment or directed verdicts may be read as an
invitation to kill off disfavored causes of action in comparative secrecy
rather than assassinate them by evidentiary rulings in open court.
22 WRIGHT & MILLER, supra § 5168.1, at 86-87
(emphasis added).
P40 While Professor Wright's supplement was written before
Kumho, that case significantly heightens the problems. In Kumho, the Court held
the district judge properly acted as a reliability gatekeeper in finding
insufficient indications of the reliability of the methodology used by a tire
failure expert. The judge has broad discretion, the Court said, to determine and apply
standards of reliability on a case-by-case basis. 526 U.S. at , 119 S. Ct. at 1175-76. With all due
respect, the argument that follows and affirms the trial judge's unreliability
finding reads more like a jury argument than an application of legal principle.
Id. at , 119 S. Ct. at 1176-79.
P41 It is impossible, indeed, to reconcile Kumho with the
Court's earlier decision in Barefoot v. Estelle, a capital case in which the
prosecution presented psychiatric opinion evidence predicting the possibility
of the defendant's future dangerousness if not sentenced to death. 463 U.S. 880, 103 S. Ct.
3383, 77 L. Ed. 2d 1090 (1983). Rejecting the position of the amicus,
the American Psychiatric Association, that psychiatrists
"are incompetent to predict [such future behavior] with any acceptable
degree of reliability," the Court said:
In the second place, the rules of evidence
generally extant at the federal and state levels anticipate that relevant,
unprivileged evidence should be admitted and its weight left to the factfinder,
who would have the benefit of cross-examination and contrary evidence by the
opposing party. Psychiatric testimony predicting dangerousness may be countered
not only as erroneous in a particular case but also as generally so unreliable
that it should be ignored. If the jury may make up its mind about future
dangerousness unaided by psychiatric testimony, jurors should not be barred
from hearing the views of the State's psychiatrists along with opposing views
of the defendant's doctors.
Id. at 898, 103 S. Ct. at 3397. The Court was
confident "that the factfinder and the adversary system" would be
"competent to uncover, recognize and take due account of [the]
shortcomings" of possibly unreliable expert opinion. Id. at 899, 103 S.
Ct. at 3398.
P42 Daubert does not mention Barefoot. Perhaps the Court
intends to interpret Fed.R.Evid. 702 differently in criminal cases.
n5 But as the earlier survey of our cases shows, in
criminal prosecutions we have not subjected testimony seeking to explain human
behavior to any preliminary gatekeeping test of reliability. We do not believe
different tests should apply in civil cases; to the contrary, rules determining
the competency of evidence should apply across the board, whether the case is
on the civil or criminal calendar. We find it hard to believe that evidence
deemed admissible in prosecutions resulting in imposition of death or long
terms of imprisonment should be held unreliable and therefore inadmissible in
tort cases based on the same type of act that leads to many criminal
prosecutions.
n5 Indeed, Justice Blackmun's
dissent suggested this. He stated that the majority opinion allowed admission
of evidence when the members of the expert's profession, the literature, and
the research data established that such predictions are wrong two out of three
times. Barefoot, 463
U.S. at 920, 103 S. Ct. at 3408-09 (Blackmun, J., dissenting). Thus,
Justice Blackmun suggested, a "greater reliability" standard should
be imposed in a capital case than in "a routine lawsuit for money
damages." Id. at 916, 103 S. Ct. at 3407.
It is interesting that Justice Blackmun was the author of the majority opinion
in Daubert.
P43 Perhaps the Court had reason to see things differently in
the ten years that elapsed between Barefoot and Kumho. Nothing in Daubert or
Kumho indicates this, but perhaps history permits us to "identify the
unarticulated reasons that [may] explain this erratic journey." Michael H.
Gottesman, n6 From Barefoot to Daubert to
Joiner: Triple Play or Double Error?, 40 ARIZ.L.REV. 753,
753 (1998). Professor Gottesman's article
traces the unhappiness of some federal appellate judges with what they
perceived as the "phenomenon of venal experts saying anything the parties
paying their fees wanted." Id. at 756. He
mentions also Judge Posner's comments, in a similar vein, in Chaulk by Murphy v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 808 F.2d
639, 644 (7th Cir. 1986) (Posner, J., dissenting), and Peter Huber's book,
GALILEO'S REVENGE: JUNK SCIENCE IN THE COURTROOM (1991), n7 both advocating a
judicial reliability screen. Then, in 1991 there was an effort by the Civil
Rules Advisory Committee to change the Federal Rules of Evidence to incorporate
such a screen. Gottesman, supra, 40
ARIZ.L.REV. at 757. The proposal was first withdrawn, then resubmitted with the backing of the Bush administration
and Solicitor General Starr, who acknowledged that the Federal Rules of
Evidence were not intended to and did not provide for such a screen. See
Dan Quayle, Agenda for Civil Justice Reform in America, 60 U.CINN.L.REV. 979, 999 (1992); see also Paul C. Giannelli, Daubert: Interpreting the Federal Rules of
Evidence, 15 CARDOZO L. REV. 1999, 2017 (1994).
n6 It should be noted that Professor Gottesman represented the losing litigants in both Daubert
and Joiner.
n7
Cf. Kenneth J. Chesebro, Galileo's Retort:
Peter Huber's Junk Scholarship, 42 AM.U.L.REV. 1637 (1993).
P44 One problem with this agenda for reform was that the
Federal Rules of Evidence were enacted by Congress. Act of
January 2, 1975, Pub. Law 93-595, 88 Stat. 1926; Giannelli, supra, 15 CARDOZO L. REV. at 2003.
See a description of the general rulemaking process in Beech Aircraft Corp. v.
Rainey, 488 U.S. 153, 163-65, 109 S. Ct. 439, 447-48, 102 L. Ed. 2d 445 (1988),
which also comments on the rules' "general approach" of
"relaxing the traditional barriers to opinion testimony." Id. at 169, 109 S. Ct. at 450. Thus,
any modification of Fed.R.Evid. 702 and 703 could be accomplished only
through congressional action on whatever recommendation might come from the
rules committee. Gottesman, supra, 40
ARIZ.L.REV. at 757. It was at this stage that the
Supreme Court mooted the issue in 1993 with Daubert's holding that the existing
rule incorporated a reliability screen, authorizing the trial judge to
determine reliability (and eventually, in Kumho, essential credibility) of a
qualified expert's testimony as a prerequisite for the jury's determination of
the same issues.
P45 In erecting this hurdle for opinion evidence, the Court
found a reliability standard inherent in the 1972 formulation of Fed.R.Evid.
702, although neither the federal rules committee nor the congressional
judiciary committees even discussed such a standard or the Frye issue. Giannelli, supra, 15 CARDOZO L.REV. at 2000-01. Nor had such a standard been considered in prior
efforts at evidentiary codification, such as the Uniform Rules of Evidence and
the Model Code of Evidence. Id. at 2017. The issue of scientific reliability as a
prerequisite for admission of scientific evidence actually arose in the 1991
recommendations of the Civil Rules Advisory Committee. Id.;
Gottesman, supra, 40 ARIZ.L.REV. at 757.
P46 Turning to our rules, nothing in the comments of this court
or its committees indicated that a reliability standard was contemplated by our
adoption of Ariz.R.Evid. 702. Given the rule's text
and cases such as Hummert, 188 Ariz. 119, 933 P.2d 1187;
Johnson, 186 Ariz. 329, 922 P.2d 294; and Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 858 P.2d
1152--all decided after we adopted Ariz.R.Evid.
702--we could not now discover such a standard implicit in the language of the
rule, phrased as it is in terms of "specialized knowledge" that will
assist the jury "to understand the evidence or to determine" the
facts and permitting expert testimony when a witness is "qualified ... by
knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education." Nor do we believe
we should interpret the rule to include such a standard.
P47 There are a number of reasons for this. First, our
experience with the Frye rule has not been bad. It is true, as the Supreme
Court indicated in Daubert and the commentators note, Fed.R.Evid. 702 did not
purport to adopt the Frye principle. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 588, 113 S. Ct. at 2794. See
P37, supra. But the rules did contemplate "further common law
development," which would not, of course, exclude the "vitality of
the general acceptance standard" for certain types of testimony. McCORMICK ON EVIDENCE § 203, at 731. Review of our cases leads
us to conclude that our formulation of the Frye rule, limiting it, as we have
in our case law, to a witness' opinion based on application of novel scientific
principle or technique formulated by another, has been strict enough to enable
our trial judges to reject the truly questionable n8 while enabling them to
admit those principles and techniques based on generally accepted scientific
theory. n9 And our trial and appellate judges have
been commendably able in making prompt and accurate Frye determinations in even
the most difficult and arcane disciplines. n10 Thus,
although we recognize that Frye is not perfect, we believe it is a necessary
and generally helpful rule. Bible, 175
Ariz. at 578-80, 858 P.2d at 1181-83. We have not yet
seen any reason to conclude that the rule, as limited and applied in our case
law, needs liberalizing; nor, as explained in section C supra, do we
believe its application should be broadened to apply to behavioral or
experience-based testimony. To change the law in that manner would call into
question a large number of criminal convictions or at least raise profound
questions of why a rule good enough for criminal cases carrying draconian
penalties is not good enough for what Justice Blackmun described in Barefoot as
"routine lawsuits for money damages." See note 5, supra.
n8 See,
e.g., State v. Gortarez, 141 Ariz. 254, 262-66,
686 P.2d 1224, 1232-36 (1984) (excluding "voiceprint" evidence in
criminal trials); State ex rel. Collins v. Superior
Court, 132 Ariz. 180, 193-211, 644 P.2d 1266, 1279-97 (1982) (hypnotically
induced testimony), reaffirmed and clarified in State ex rel.
Neely v. Sherrill, 165 Ariz. 508, 799 P.2d 849 (1990); State v. Mena, 128 Ariz. 226, 231-32, 624 P.2d 1274, 1279-80 (1981)
(hypnotically induced testimony); Valdez, 91 Ariz. 274, 371 P.2d 894
(polygraph).
n9 See,
e.g., Hummert, 188 Ariz. 119, 933 P.2d 1187 (DNA
match observations); State v. Baltzell, 175 Ariz.
437, 441, 857 P.2d 1291, 1295 (App. 1992) ("occupant kinematics"
evidence); Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 858 P.2d 1152 (DNA evidence); Troutman v.
Valley Nat'l Bank, 170 Ariz. 513, 518-19 & n.2, 826 P.2d 810, 815-16 &
n.2 (App. 1992) (thermogram diagnostic test); State
v. Velasco, 165 Ariz. 480, 486-87, 799 P.2d 821, 827-28 (1990) (silica gel
blood alcohol test); State v. Beaty, 158 Ariz. 232,
241-42, 762 P.2d 519, 528-29 (1988) (phosphoglucomutase
blood test), cert. denied, 491 U.S. 910, 109 S. Ct. 3200, 105 L. Ed. 2d
708) (1989); State v. Superior Court, 149 Ariz. 269, 718 P.2d 171 (1986)
(horizontal gaze nystagmus testing); Starr v. Campos,
134 Ariz. 254, 256-58, 655 P.2d 794, 796-98 (App. 1982) (remanding for further
consideration admissibility of computer accident analysis).
n10 See,
e.g., State v. Johnson, 186 Ariz. 329, 922 P.2d 294 (1996) (general
acceptance of restricted fragment length polymorphic (RFLP) procedure for
testing DNA and modified ceiling method of statistical probability analysis);
State v. Bogan, 183 Ariz. 506, 905 P.2d 515 (App.
1995) (RFPD procedure in DNA testing and match opinions on plant specimens
admissible in sexual assault prosecution).
P48 One of the arguments for adopting Daubert is to allow trial
judges to put a halt to improper verdicts from jurors misled by junk science
and experts ready at the drop of a hat (or a dollar) to say anything for any
party. This, of course, is a two-edged sword--plaintiffs' lawyers do not have a
monopoly on venal or inaccurate experts. n11 But we do
not believe Daubert/Kumho will prove to be a perfect or even a good antidote.
Implicit in Joiner and Kumho is the assumption that trial judges as a group
will be more able than jurors to tell good science from junk, true scientists
from charlatans, truthful experts from liars, and venal from objective experts.
But most judges, like most jurors, have little or no technical training
"and are not known for expertise in science," let alone in the
precise discipline involved in a particular case. 1 FAIGMAN,
ET AL., supra, at vii.
n11 Even a cursory excursion into the
history of toxic tort litigation will prove this statement to be quite modest. See,
e.g., Anderson v. W.R. Grace & Co., 628 F. Supp. 1219 (1986), the case
on which the book and movie A Civil Action were based; see also the
history of the tobacco litigation, in particular PETER PRINGLE, CORNERED: BIG
TOBACCO AT THE BAR OF JUSTICE (1998), especially chapter 6, entitled The
Sweet Smell of Gain.
P49 Nor do our trial judges have time for Kumho hearings in
each case in which expert testimony is to be offered. Those hearings require
the equivalent of a Frye hearing, for general acceptance is one of the Daubert
factors, and also require findings in a variety of other matters, changing from
case to case. Kumho, 526 U.S. at , 119 S. Ct. at 1175-76. As Judge Kozinski
noted, applying Daubert will be a "complex and daunting task." Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 43 F.3d 1311, 1316 (9th
Cir. 1995). The dissenters have an optimistic view of Daubert and Kumho,
but that view is quite premature. See Martone
dissent at P90-92; McGregor dissent at P104. The co-author of what the Martone dissent describes as the "preeminent
treatise" on scientific evidence acknowledges that it will take at least
the "next several years [to] determine whether Daubert was an
enlightened step forward in the way the law uses science or a stumble backward
into the darkness of a 'Kafkaesque nightmare.'" DAVID L.
FAIGMAN, LEGAL ALCHEMY 61 (1999).
P50 The present case, with its proliferation of paper, is the
paradigm of the problem Kumho would present. Unlike Frye, Kumho applies to all
cases involving expert testimony, not just those involving a specific novel
scientific principle. Further, while a Frye order establishes general
acceptance of a theory for all cases, under Daubert/Kumho each trial judge in
any case involving disputed expert testimony would have to review the eight or
nine Daubert/Kumho factors so far revealed to us in case-specific pretrial
testimonial hearings to determine reliability of the expert's techniques,
experience, observation, methodology, and conclusions--subjectively inquiring
into and determining not only general acceptance but all the factors so far
identified and any others that appellate courts may yet deem appropriate to save
us from juries that have been led or misled down the garden path. See
Joseph T. Walsh, Keeping the Gate, 83 JUDICATURE 140,
143 (1999). n12 Of course, no one can quantify
how many times juries have been fooled by junk science, though it undoubtedly
has occurred, or how many times this has favored the prosecution or the
defense, the plaintiff or the defendant. Nor can anyone say how much more or truer
justice would have been or will be attained if judges get the first crack at
the evidence, together with the hitherto unprecedented power to preclude the
jury from hearing contested, relevant evidence from a qualified witness. n13
n12 A recent court of appeals memorandum
decision illustrates the problems that adoption of Daubert/Kumho would create.
In Loza v. Palermo, an automobile accident case, the
defense offered expert opinion from a bioengineer that the low-impact collision
and motions resulting from it were insufficient to produce any trauma under the
witness' theory of injury mechanics. The court of appeals held that the trial
judge properly allowed this testimony because the witness was qualified by
training and experience and thus permitted to testify under Rule 702. No one
raised a Frye objection, and no Frye hearing was held, no Daubert claim was made,
and no Daubert hearing, necessarily including general acceptance, was held. No. 2 CA-CV 98-0162 (Ariz.Ct.App., July
29, 1999). We shudder to think of the time that would be spent on cases
such as Loza were we to adopt Kumho.
n13 A seriously inaccurate statement in
Justice Martone's dissent requires rebuttal despite
its marginal relevance to this, or any, issue. Justice Martone
asserts that this court recently sponsored a judicial education conference
"based upon the idea that judges do have a significant gatekeeping role,
whether operating under Frye or Daubert." Martone dissent at P93. This
court has never sponsored anything based on such a premise. The
quoted description of the conference was contained in an invitation Justice Martone sent interested judges on the letterhead of the
Judicial College of Arizona. The letter was not first submitted to the court,
and the quoted language was not approved by the court.
The
attempt to buttress the dissent's argument in such a manner is not only
irrelevant but unavailing. There are 180 fulltime judicial officers sitting on
Arizona's superior court bench. According to all reports, the
conference--Genetics in the Courtroom--was quite worthwhile. But according to
our judicial college staff, only thirty-four Arizona trial judges
(less than twenty percent of our superior court bench) attended the conference.
City magistrates and justices of the peace were not even invited, though they
encounter a good deal of cutting-edge science in drunk driving and similar
cases. Judicial law clerks and staff attorneys were not invited and not
permitted to attend. The view that all judges are eager to be trained on
scientific issues, like the benign view of Kumho, is, I fear, Panglossian at
best.
P51 But let us assume, as does Justice Martone,
that given the power conferred by Kumho, our trial judges would do better than
juries. See Martone dissent at PP93-94. Even
then we would not follow Daubert as interpreted in Kumho. Our constitution
preserves the "right to have the jury pass upon questions of fact by
determining the credibility of witnesses and the weight of conflicting
evidence." Burton v. Valentine, 61 Ariz. 28, 60 Ariz.
518, 529, 141 P.2d 847, 851 (1943). The framers' intent does not
contemplate giving judges the power to determine reliability and credibility of
a qualified expert as a prerequisite to submission of the expert's conclusions
to a jury for its determination of the weight to be given to the testimony.
One
other feature of the constitution might fairly be described as a device to
allow for direct popular control of governmental action--the right of trial by
jury. Consistent with their overall philosophy, the Arizona framers not only
provided that the right shall "remain inviolate" (Article II, section
23) but took further steps to guard against encroachments on the independence
of juries. Judges were forbidden to charge [***61] juries with respect to "matters
of fact" and were prohibited from commenting on the evidence (Article VI,
section 27). In the case of lawsuits to recover damages for death or injury,
defenses of assumption of risk and contributory negligence were "in all
cases whatsoever [and] at all times, [to] be left to the jury" (Article
XVIII, section 5).
JOHN D. LESHY, THE
ARIZONA STATE CONSTITUTION, A REFERENCE GUIDE 12 (1993). It would be strange that a judge
forbidden to comment on the reliability or credibility of testimony would be
empowered to preclude the jury from hearing the testimony at all because the
judge believes it to be unreliable or not worthy of belief. Reduction or
obliteration of the jury function may be seen by some as the ultimate tort
reform, but it is one prohibited by our organic law.
P52 We believe Joiner and Kumho approach that result. The judge
is made the gatekeeper, empowered to make preliminary determinations of
reliability and credibility of qualified witnesses and to exclude the testimony
of such witnesses if the judge concludes there is not a "valid
connection" between the testimony and the "pertinent inquiry."
Kumho, 526 U.S. at , 119 S. Ct. at 1175. Judges, of course,
have the responsibility to exclude irrelevant evidence, but the valid
connection to which Kumho refers goes far beyond determining relevancy. It
includes the judge's determination of the "testimony's factual basis,
data, principles, methods, or their application" to ascertain
"whether the testimony has 'a reliable basis in the knowledge and
experience of [the relevant] discipline.'" Id. (quoting Daubert,
509 U.S. at 592, 113 S. Ct. at 2786). Questions about the accuracy and
reliability of a witness' factual basis, data, and methods go to the weight and
credibility of the witness' testimony and are questions of fact. The right to
jury trial does not turn on the judge's preliminary assessment of testimonial
reliability. It is the jury's function to determine accuracy, weight, or
credibility.
P53 Arizona's constitutional right to a jury trial does not, of
course, forbid the trial judge from ruling on admission of evidence. The judge
may certainly do so, and when the testimony is based on a novel scientific
principle that the witness has taken from others and applied to the case at
hand, the judge may, as a matter of foundation, require a showing of general
acceptance. The Daubert/Joiner/Kumho trilogy of cases, however, puts the judge
in the position of passing on the weight or credibility of the expert's
testimony, something we believe crosses the line between the legal task of
ruling on the foundation and relevance of evidence and the jury's function of whom
to believe and why, whose testimony to accept, and on what basis. Kumho's
rationale illustrates the point. For example:
Some of Daubert's questions can
help to evaluate the reliability even of experience-based testimony. In certain
cases, it will be appropriate for the trial judge to ask, for example, how
often an engineering expert's experience-based methodology has produced
erroneous results, or whether such a method is generally accepted in the
relevant engineering community. Likewise, it will at times be useful to ask
even of a witness whose expertise is based purely on experience, say, a perfume
tester able to distinguish among 140 odors at a sniff, whether his preparation
is of a kind that others in the field would recognize as acceptable.
526 U.S. at , 119 S. Ct. at 1176. Such [***64] undoubtedly pertinent questions are
better left to counsel, and the authority to decide them constitutionally left
to jurors. We have no doubt that jurors will be as able as judges, if not more
so, to evaluate the testimony of the perfume sniffer
who prepares by a method unacceptable to most testers. n14
n14 The data actually provide little support
for the view that jurors are incompetent to deal with complex cases and hard
issues. See, e.g., Joe S. Cecil, Valerie P. Hans, and Elizabeth C.
Wiggins, Citizen Comprehension of Difficult Issues: Lessons from Civil Jury
Trials, 40 AM. U.L. REV. 728, 744-45, 764 (1991), and the
exhaustive notes supporting the authors' conclusions.
P54 This opinion does not lessen the trial judge's authority to
determine the admissibility of evidence. See Ariz.R.Evid.
104(a) and (b). Rule 702 conditions admission of
opinion evidence in part on the judge's determination that the evidence will
"assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to [***65] determine a fact in
issue." This, of course, pertains to the nature of the subject on which
the opinion is to be given rather than the credibility of the witness
expressing the opinion. Lindsey, 149
Ariz. at 495, 720 P.2d at 96; see also Cynthia H. Cwik,
Guarding the Gate: Expert Witness Admissibility, 25 LITIGATION 6 (1999).
Kumho elevates the concept of assistance to impermissible heights by allowing
the trial judge to reject opinion testimony based on his or her views about the
reliability and accuracy of the data relied on, the credibility of the witness,
or the weight that should be given that witness' testimony. Of course, the line
is difficult to draw, but in this case the judge's ruling on admissibility
crossed the line and intruded on the jury's function.
P55
We do not lessen trial judges' authority. We do not reject Kumho on a
constitutional basis but because the authority over the admission of evidence
given to trial judges by Kumho is much different from the authority long
recognized by the Federal Rules of Evidence and the common law of evidence.
Daubert and Kumho give the judge authority to preclude evidence because [***66] the judge disagrees
with the methodology used by the witness or believes the methodology is unreliable
or the witness is less credible than the witness produced by the other side.
Kumho, in other words, permits the judge to engage in the weighing factor.
Neither the common law of evidence nor the Federal Rules of Evidence permitted
this type of judicial activism. The trial judge had authority to exclude
evidence when it violated some rule of law, such as the best evidence rule or
the hearsay rule. See Richard O. Lempert, The
Jury and Scientific Evidence, IX KAN. J.L. & PUB.
POL'Y 22 (1999). The trial judge was empowered to
weigh and make judgments whether otherwise admissible evidence was to be
excluded because its prejudicial value outweighed its probative value. But
until Kumho, nothing in the rules or the common law permitted the judge to
exclude evidence based on his or her conclusions as to the credibility of a
qualified witness' conclusions.
P56 We thus conclude that we should not and cannot adopt the
Joiner and Kumho interpretation of Daubert but will continue to apply Ariz.R.Evid. 702 as written. Our
conclusion is not, as the Martone dissent [***67] suggests, based on
a lack of confidence in or appreciation for trial judges but instead an
appreciation for the different functions of the trial judge and the jury.
Justice McGregor's dissent points out that there are only seventeen states that
have not adopted Daubert and expresses concern that we are overreacting to
Kumho so that today's decision will possibly isolate Arizona from the
"mainstream of judicial analysis." McGregor dissent
at P99. These are matters of concern, but we believe we adopt the better
rule and that in the long run the dangers of Kumho will be perceived and the
mainstream of judicial decision will either shift or Kumho's reach will be
confined and Daubert applied as it should be--to questions of novel scientific
evidence.
P57 Our holding does not open the doors of our courthouses to
false science and charlatans. The Frye rule remains as a barrier to offers of
novel scientific and possibly pseudoscientific theory. The Rules of Evidence,
and Rule 702 itself, erect barriers to admission of all opinion evidence: the
evidence must be relevant, the witness must be qualified, and the evidence must
be the kind that will assist the [***68] jury. See Washington v. Greene,
139 Wn.2d 64, 984 P.2d 1024, 1028-30 (Wash. 1999) (even though Frye was
satisfied and witness qualified, testimony on multiple personality-dissociative identity disorder properly excluded in
criminal prosecution because diagnosis was incapable of forensic application to
Washington's definitions of legal insanity or diminished capacity; evidence
therefore would not have assisted jury in performing its function); see also
Oregon v. Brown, 297 Ore. 404, 687 P.2d 751 (Ore. 1984) (abandoning Frye rule,
Oregon Supreme Court holds expert opinion evidence admissible under traditional
standards of relevancy, and factors identified in Rule 702--qualified witness
and testimony assisting jury; latter factors satisfied if testimony is within
witness' field, witness is qualified, and opinion foundation intelligibly
relates testimony to facts; even so, exclusion still possible under Rule 403).
P58 As Brown points out, the rules also permit trial judges to
reject even relevant evidence that meets the Rule 702 test if the probative
value is "substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice,
confusion ... or misleading [***69] the
jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time. ..." Ariz.R.Evid.
403. One could thus hypothesize that trial judges would not exceed their
authority in excluding evidence based on theories of the Flat Earth Society,
the Aristotelian concept of cosmology, astrology, or other false or
pseudoscience. But our system provides even better tools to save us from junk
scientists and charlatans. As the Supreme Court itself acknowledged,
"vigorous cross-examination, presentation of contrary evidence, and
careful instruction on the burden of proof are the traditional and appropriate [**133] [*490]
means of attacking shaky but admissible evidence." Daubert, 509 U.S. at 596, 113 S. Ct. at 2798. For those who
truly believe in the jury system, this, although imperfect, should be enough.
P59 Thus, we address the problems inherent in false opinion
evidence without permitting trial judges to encroach on the province and
independence of the jury under the guise of acting as gatekeepers. We have
armed trial judges with the ability to take the case from the jury even when
there is a bare scintilla of evidence to support the claim. Orme School v. Reeves, 166 Ariz. 301, 802 P.2d 1000 (1990).
[***70] But it is one thing to permit
trial judges to grant summary judgment or direct a verdict when there is no
more than a scintilla of evidence supporting a claim and a wholly different
thing to give them the power to reduce the evidence to a scintilla by excluding
otherwise admissible testimony from qualified witnesses simply because they
disagree with the opinion's basis or believe the expert untrustworthy or
unreliable.
P60 Finally, there are other solutions available if a judge
believes there is a substantial possibility that a jury might be misled or
fooled by plausible but very untrustworthy testimony from a dubious expert
witness. Rule 706, Ariz.R.Evid., for instance, permits a judge in such an extraordinary
situation to appoint an expert and sets forth the procedure to be followed. See
also McCORMICK ON EVIDENCE § 203, at 733-34.
P61 We therefore reject the Joiner and Kumho interpretations of
Rule 702. In doing so, we do not close the door to continuing common-law evolution
or refinement of either Frye or Rule 702 and will continue to be responsive and
receptive to evolving methods of addressing any abuses in the use of expert
testimony. [***71] See, e.g., Rule
26(b) (4) (D), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure (limiting number of expert
witnesses); Rule 1 (D) (4), Arizona Uniform Rules of Practice for Medical
Malpractice Cases (same).
SUMMARY
AND CONCLUSION
P62 It is no doubt tempting, but potentially quite harmful, to
exaggerate the breadth and scope of this decision to support erroneous
predictions of the dire consequences that will follow. See Martone dissent at PP79-81. To compare the repressed memory
controversy between clinical psychiatrists and psychologists on the one hand
and research psychologists on the other to a debate over astrology is, to put
it tactfully, quite a stretch. So is the fear that "any expert" can
testify to any conclusion, no matter how scientifically unreliable. Our
decision, like Kumho, does not turn on an attempt to determine whether repressed
memory is "scientific" or "unscientific." Plaintiff does
not claim her memories are proved true as a matter of scientific fact. Frye is
applicable when an expert witness reaches a conclusion by deduction from the
application of novel scientific principles, formulae, or procedures developed
by others. It is inapplicable when [***72] a witness reaches a conclusion by
inductive reasoning based on his or her own experience, observation, or
research. In the latter case, the validity of the premise is tested by
interrogation of the witness; in the former case, it is tested by inquiring
into general acceptance.
P63 This case turns on a non-scientific issue. As the Martone dissent concedes:
In
many respects, the phenomenon of repressed memory, whatever its validity,
presents a classic problem for the law and science relationship. ... It remains
woefully short of being empirically verified and, indeed, heralds from a
non-rigorous school of psychology in which empirical validation is not a core
tenet. The theory of repressed memories has its roots in clinical therapy, a
domain in which validity is not a factor of overriding concern. ...
Martone dissent at P86 (quoting 1 FAIGMAN, ET
AL. § 13-1.5,
at 534). We believe the jury must decide what to do about the lack of empirical
support. The June 11 Order would not even let the jury hear of the controversy
and would, in effect, throw it and the case out of the courthouse, thus letting
the judge decide the dispute if Frye were applied, and perhaps even if Daubert
were applied. But what is gained by that? The need, as Professor Faigman
describes it, is this:
Repression, in short, is a testable
hypothesis, but it has not yet been appropriately tested. Pending satisfactory
studies, therefore, the most reasonable scientific position is to maintain
skepticism.
Martone dissent at P88 (quoting 1 FAIGMAN, ET
AL. § 13-2.4,
at 150 (Supp. 1999)).
P64 We agree. The most reasonable position, scientific or
unscientific, is to maintain skepticism about Plaintiff's claims. Justice Martone also suggests this case should be tested
"under some heightened form of evidentiary scrutiny." Martone dissent
at P88. Again we agree. But we have no doubt there will be very
stringent scrutiny by the time able defense counsel finishes cross-examining
Plaintiff and her witnesses, including Doctor van der Kolk.
We are quite sure also that the nature of the case and the evidence produced by
Defendant may well engender some skepticism in the minds of the jurors, just as
it did with the trial judge. But as able as this trial judge is, and no matter
how well founded his skepticism or ours, we believe the evidentiary testing
should come [***74]
from the adversary system and be decided by the jury. We make no
constitutional pronouncement. We simply differ from the dissenters in this:
having faith in the jury system, we believe jurors can handle the problem.
Whether or not the jury finds Plaintiff's claims well founded, we are willing
to indulge the presumption that the jurors will probably be right, or at least
as right as the trial judge, and we, might be on this and the many other
difficult issues of fact that come before our courts. More important, we
believe the result we reach is in keeping with our system of justice and its
preference for trial by jury on issues of fact.
P65 Thus, we retain the Frye rule but continue to apply it as
described in Hummert. We reject the Joiner/Kumho
interpretation of Fed.R.Evid. 702 and continue to apply Ariz.R.Evid.
702 as written and interpreted by our cases. The trial
judge's June 11, 1998 Minute Entry Order is vacated. The case may proceed in
conformance with this opinion.
STANLEY
G. FELDMAN, Justice
CONCURRING:
THOMAS A. ZLAKET, Chief Justice
CHARLES E. JONES, Vice Chief Justice
CONCURBY:
Charles E. Jones
CONCUR:
JONES, Vice Chief Justice, specially concurring:
P66 I concur and join in the opinion and judgment of the
majority but write separately because of the growing debate over the
admissibility of expert testimony touching on fields of scientific endeavor under
the Daubert/Kumho line of cases. Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 119 S. Ct. 1167,
143 L. Ed. 2d 238 (1999); Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509
U.S. 579, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 125 L. Ed. 2d 469 (1993). In the context of
childhood sexual abuse, my concern is heightened by Daubert's adverse impact on
child victims stemming from the potential exclusion of otherwise relevant
evidence.
P67 The issue is uncomplicated. The dissenting authors urge
that we adopt Daubert, thereby vesting the trial judge with exclusive power to
determine, as a matter of law, whether the statute of limitations should bar
petitioner's sexual abuse claim on the basis that theories of "repressed
memory," "dissociative amnesia," and
related mental disorders constitute invalid science.
P68 The problem is this. To adopt Daubert will give the trial
judge sole power to preclude expert testimony which, in the view of the
majority, is both relevant and essential to a proper resolution of the case.
Conversely, to admit evidence under Daubert depends not on the traditional
evidentiary factors of relevance or materiality but on an extraordinary
determination by the judge alone as to whether expert testimony, as proffered,
accords with scientific principles about which the judge may know little or
nothing. This constitutes weighing, rather than a determination of
admissibility under the rules. Clearly, evidence weighing is the province of
the jury as the trier of fact, not the judge. The great risk under Daubert is that
the jury may never hear evidence that is both competent and relevant.
P69 I believe application of Daubert in the instant case will
undermine Rule 702, Arizona Rules of Evidence, which states in relevant part:
If ... specialized knowledge will
assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in
issue, a witness qualified as an expert by ... experience, ... may
testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.
(Emphasis supplied.) I can think of no
more succinct or accurate description of the testimony and evidence [***77] offered by Bessel
A. van der Kolk, M.D., than Rule 702 as quoted. His
testimony is founded on specialized knowledge and is based on real experience.
His qualifications are extensive.
P70 It is my general observation that a range of factual
scenarios and a variety of cause and effect circumstances in specialized
scientific fields may remain unexplained for generations, as in aspects of
cosmic science or in medical or other forms of life science. But it is also
true, as a practical matter, that their actual occurrence, repeated time and
again, may be well within an expert's specialized knowledge and experience.
Notwithstanding the doubt that may encircle scientific theory, it is actual
experience, whether in the laboratory, the clinic, or elsewhere, that has been
the sine qua non of medical and scientific progress. And it seems to me
such experience, under Rule 702, would assist the trier of fact to understand
the issues and the evidence in the case at bar. The exclusion of uncertain or
doubtful scientific theory is one thing, but the exclusion of specialized
knowledge of actual trauma which stems from real experience is quite another.
P71 I would admit the testimony of Dr. van der Kolk without reference either to Frye or Daubert. Frye v. United States, 54 App. D.C. 46, 293 F. 1013 (1923).
It should be admitted to the extent it is based on actual experience, both as
the factual basis on which to determine applicability of the statute of
limitations and as the basis under Rule 702 to explain to the jury the nature
of petitioner's claims. Van der Kolk is a trained
medical expert with a breadth of experience dealing with substantial numbers of
childhood sexual abuse victims. A ruling that would exclude van der Kolk purely on the basis that the trial judge may believe
the "science" is uncertain would leave petitioner Logerquist
and others like her with little but their individual testimony based on
childhood memory, with no opportunity to introduce specialized evidence to
explain things actually experienced at a tender age in their lives. This would
impair substantial justice. Contrary to the dissent at paragraph 79, any theory
of repressed memory, valid or invalid, is easily distinguished from astrology
because the former is invariably associated with severe mental or even physical
trauma to the victim, whereas the latter involves no trauma and no victim. That
is the whole point. Trauma caused by molestation is relevant, and to apply
Daubert in these circumstances risks immunizing adult molesters against
liability for acts of sexual abuse against children.
P72 Petitioner Logerquist alleges
that her life has been severely impacted, that sexual assaults on her person
were of such traumatic magnitude and incapacitated her emotional and mental
self to such an extent that for many years she was unable to cope with or
discuss her past or even face life's most essential decisions. In light of the
complex medical implications and her young age at the time the alleged events
occurred, she alone should not be expected to justify or even explain her
symptoms. She claims depression. She was unable to remain employed and
underwent years of mental therapy, allegedly necessitated by sexual abuse at
the hands of the defendant. While the underlying scientific theories may remain
uncertain, it is well known that child victims of sexual molestation by adults
suffer profound forms of denial, anxiety, depression, and guilt. Their lives
are often left in shock and degradation. Such conditions may endure for years,
and [***80] experience-based
testimony by a trained specialist would assist the jury to decide both the
statute of limitations defense and the merits of petitioner's case.
P73 To date, none of petitioner's allegations has been proved.
They may never be proved to the satisfaction of a jury, and the statutory
period of limitations may still bar her claim. Nevertheless, she should at
least be accorded an opportunity to make her whole case.
P74 My reason in part for joining the majority is a current
sense of resistance to the Daubert principle because it gives the trial judge,
a non-expert in scientific matters, near absolute power to make a one-person
determination of what is and what is not valid science. The dissenting justices
present a legitimate, well-intentioned argument, but I remain unpersuaded that a judge alone should occupy a scientific
fact-intensive role so powerful. For that reason, I remain skeptical of Daubert
and Kumho, at least until a solid measure of acceptable consistency emerges
under their application.
Charles
E. Jones
Vice
Chief Justice
DISSENTBY:
Frederick J. Martone;
Ruth V. McGregor
DISSENT:
MARTONE, Justice,
dissenting.
P75 We were [***81] asked to decide whether Frye or
Daubert applies to the theory of repressed memory. Instead of choosing, the
majority rejects both Frye and Daubert and abandons the trial court's
substantive role in ruling on the admissibility of this sort of evidence.
Because I believe that judges can play a valuable role in preventing the abuse
of expert testimony and in excluding junk science, I dissent.
P76 In Logerquist v. Danforth, 188
Ariz. 16, 23-24, 932 P.2d 281, 288-89 (App. 1996), the court of appeals
remanded this case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on the validity
of repressed memory under Frye. We denied review. The trial court then held a
comprehensive evidentiary hearing and concluded that the relevant scientific
community rejects the existence of repressed memory and the theory that such
memories can be recalled with accuracy. Logerquist's
offer of expert evidence thus failed to pass the general acceptance standard of
Frye. The court of appeals declined to accept jurisdiction of Logerquist's petition for special action. She petitioned
this court to review the following two substantive issues:
1. Does the Frye rule apply to this case,
or should this court adopt Daubert?
2. Did Judge McVey act arbitrarily,
capriciously, and/or abuse his discretion in ruling that the existence and
accuracy of repressed memory are not generally accepted by the relevant
scientific community so that the Frye rule was not met here?
Petition for Review at
3. Although the
majority answers neither issue, here are the answers to these questions.
P77 If we were to continue to adhere to Frye, then we would
affirm the ruling of the trial court. The hearing Judge McVey held under Frye
was comprehensive and the majority does not take issue with his conclusion that
repressed memory is simply not generally accepted in the scientific community.
Expert testimony on repressed memory would thus be excluded. If, on the other
hand, the court chose this case as a vehicle to adopt Daubert, as both parties
urged us to do, then the Frye hearing would be inadequate and we would need to
remand this case to the trial court for reconsideration under Daubert.
P78 The majority chooses neither approach. Ironically, the
majority does an end-run around Frye even as it pays [***83] homage to it. And, because the
majority does not trust trial judges to properly perform a gatekeeping
function, it rejects Daubert and avoids remand on this issue.
I.
P79 How does the majority bypass Frye? It does so by stating
that expert opinion testimony about repressed memory is not based upon
scientific theory at all. According to the majority, because Frye only applies
to scientific theories or processes, and repressed memory is unscientific,
general acceptance is irrelevant and the evidence comes in. Ante, at P19. But
this analysis is flawed. One would reach the exact opposite conclusion if one
believed that repressed memory was not based on a scientific theory. If, as the
majority asserts, repressed memory has no scientific basis, then, like
astrology, expert testimony on it should be excluded. n1 If, on the other hand,
the theory of repressed memory is offered as having some scientific validity,
then it must be subject to either
[**137] [*494] Frye or Daubert scrutiny. Here, the theory is
offered as having a basis in science. Logerquist's
expert, Dr. van der Kolk, n2 planned to testify that
amnesia for traumatic events, including sexual abuse, "has [***84] been documented in
numerous scientific reports" and that the notion is "well accepted in
the relevant scientific community." Ante, at P15. Thus, Frye is fully
applicable.
n1 The majority denies the scientific basis
of repressed memory in order to bypass Frye. Thus, contrary to Justice Jones'
assertion, ante, at P71, it is the majority, not I, that puts repressed memory
in the same category as astrology.
n2 By cluttering the Arizona Reports with
his resume, the majority fails to distinguish between Dr. van der Kolk's qualification as an expert, which is not in dispute,
and the theory he advances, which is the heart of the dispute. We would not
allow a Nobel laureate in physics to testify that, based upon his experience,
the earth is flat.
P80 The majority reaches the quite remarkable conclusion that
"Frye is inapplicable when a qualified witness offers relevant testimony
or conclusions based on experience and observation about human behavior for the
purpose of explaining [***85]
that behavior." Ante, at P30. But observation-based
experience and inductive reasoning, ante, at P62, lie at the heart of the
scientific method. That expert evidence about human behavior has no basis in
science will be astounding news to the medical community. It also means that
any psychiatrist, psychologist, or "human behavioralist"
can be called as an "expert" and render any theory of human behavior,
however farfetched. This presents a profound danger to our judicial system.
Neurobehavioral genetics is an emerging field. The ways in which genes affect
the brain and human behavior raise all sorts of issues: the relationship
between genes and criminal violence; the relationship between genes and mental
disorders; the relationship between genes and behavioral disorders; the
relationship between genes and addictive disorders; and the list goes on. See Dean Hamer and Peter Copeland, Living With Our
Genes (1998).
P81 After today's decision, any "expert" can walk
into an Arizona courtroom and testify about human behavior without any
threshold showing of scientific reliability. Yet, with a renegade exception,
courts that have addressed the admissibility of expert [***86] testimony on repressed memory have
applied either Frye or Daubert. Though they reach different outcomes, each
applies some form of heightened evidentiary scrutiny. See Shahzade
v. Gregory, 923 F. Supp. 286, 287 (D. Mass. 1996) (finding that the theory of
repressed memory is reliable under Daubert); Doe v. Shults-Lewis
Child and Family Services, Inc., 718 N.E.2d 738, 748-49 (Ind. 1999) (concluding
that, before the testimony is admitted into evidence, the court must be
satisfied that the expert scientific testimony is based on reliable scientific
principles); State v. Hungerford, 142 N.H. 110, 697 A.2d 916, 920 (N.H. 1997)
(concluding that repressed memories must satisfy a threshold reliability
inquiry before being admitted at trial); State v. Quattrocchi,
681 A.2d 879, 883-84 (R.I. 1996) (concluding that when repressed memory
testimony is offered, the trial judge "should exercise a gatekeeping
function and hold a preliminary evidentiary hearing outside the presence of the
jury in order to determine whether such evidence is reliable").
P82 The majority neglects these cases and, instead, is drawn to
Wilson v. Phillips, 73 Cal. App. 4th 250, 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d 204 (App. 1999),
[***87] a sui
generis opinion of California's intermediate appellate court. The distinction
in Wilson (distinguishing expert medical opinion from scientific theories) is
contrary to Arizona law and common sense. Expert medical opinions must be based
on medical science as it is currently known. A contrary conclusion would reduce
medicine to magic.
P83 The majority's reliance upon State v. Hummert,
188 Ariz. 119, 933 P.2d 1187 (1997), to support its conclusion that Frye does
not apply here is misplaced. In Hummert, we
distinguished between two kinds of evidence. One involved the scientific
validity of DNA identification techniques. As to this, we said Frye applied. We
also said it was generally accepted under Frye. The other evidence was expert
experience with DNA matches. We allowed opinion evidence concerning the
expert's experience with random matches without subjecting that experience to a
Frye analysis, because the scientific principles that were at the basis of
their personal experience had already been subjected to a successful Frye
analysis. Thus, under Hummert, the theory of
repressed memory would first have to satisfy [***88] Frye. If it [**138] [*495]
did, then and only then could an expert offer an opinion based on
experience.
P84 So too, in State v. Lindsey, 149 Ariz. 472, 473, 720 P.2d
73, 74 (1986), we permitted expert testimony that explained "recognized principles
of social or behavioral science which the jury [could] apply to determine
issues in the case." The principles were already recognized. Here, of
course, we have a very different case. Repressed memory has not been generally
recognized. It is a new and controversial theory which attempts to explain the
brain's response to trauma under the banner of science. Thus, we should not
allow expert testimony based upon personal experience in this area unless and
until it satisfies Frye.
P85 Nor does State v. Roscoe, 145 Ariz. 212, 700 P.2d 1312
(1984) (Roscoe I) advance the majority's position. We had to acknowledge error
in admitting the dog scent evidence when it turned out that the expert was a
"charlatan" and his theory "fabricated." State
v. Roscoe, 184 Ariz. 484, 489 n.1, 910 P.2d 635, 640 n.1 (1996) (Roscoe II).
We thus erred in Roscoe I in allowing the use of this [***89] evidence without any preliminary
showing of reliability. It is precisely because of cases like Roscoe I that the
trial court's role as a gatekeeper is so important. n3
The majority's revised reading of Hummert, Lindsey,
and Roscoe I casts Frye right out of our jurisprudence.
n3 Ironically, the majority notes that in
Roscoe I, we stated that Frye would apply to the theories of Freud. Ante, at
P22. Yet the theory of repressed memory is grounded in Freud's theories. If Dr.
van der Kolk's testimony is based upon Freud, how
does it escape Frye scrutiny?
P86 Having shown that Frye does apply, here is how we should
deal with it. A preeminent treatise on scientific evidence says this about the
relationship between repressed memory and the law:
In
many respects, the phenomenon of repressed memory, whatever its validity,
presents a classic problem for the law and science relationship. ... It remains
woefully short of being empirically verified and, indeed, heralds from [***90] a non-rigorous
school of psychology in which empirical validation is not a core tenet. The
theory of repressed memories has its roots in clinical therapy, a domain in which
validity is not a factor of overriding concern. In therapy, support and
improved mental health are the predominant outcome measures.
1 David L. Faigman, David H. Kaye,
Michael J. Saks & Joseph Sanders, Modern Scientific Evidence: The Law and
Science of Expert Testimony §
13-1.5, at 534-35 (1997).
P87 There may be no area of contemporary psychiatry and
psychology more controversial than the theory of repressed memory.
"Questions are raised about the authenticity of such reported memories,
people's ability to recall such memories, the techniques used to recover these
memories, and the role of therapists in developing the memories." Id. § 13-2.3, at 539.
Indeed, the preeminent professor of law and psychiatry at Harvard University
notes well the problem of memory, "infantile amnesia" and its effect
on the legitimacy of Freudianism itself.
The
task of constructing self-descriptions in psychoanalytic therapy also
encounters the problem of memory. Everything we have learned in recent years
[***91] about
memory has emphasized its plasticity, the ease with which it can be distorted,
and the difficulties of reaching a hypothetical veridical memory. Much of what
psychoanalysis considered infantile amnesia may be a function of the
reorganizing brain rather than of the repressing mind. All of this makes the
task of constructing meaningful histories of desire in the individual more
daunting.
If
there is no important connection between childhood events and adult
psychopathology, then Freudian theories lose much of their explanatory power.
If memory cannot be trusted to construct a self-description, what does one do
in therapy?
Alan A. Stone, M.D., Where Will
Psychoanalysis Survive: What Remains of Freudianism When its Scientific Center
Crumbles?, Harv. Mag., Jan.-Feb. 1997, at 39.
P88 This debate lies at the essence of Frye. Repressed memory
does not lie within the range of common knowledge. Experts in psychology and
psychiatry cannot reach
[**139] [*496] agreement about its validity. See Modern
Scientific Evidence §
13-2.0, at 115-50 (Supp. 1999). And, if experts cannot agree
about the validity of repressed memory, how do we pass this question to the
jury without [***92]
first reviewing its reliability under some heightened form of
evidentiary scrutiny? That is what Frye is all about. Here is what some experts
conclude:
Repression,
in short, is a testable hypothesis, but it has not yet been appropriately
tested. Pending satisfactory studies, therefore, the most reasonable scientific
position is to maintain skepticism.
Id. at 150. The trial court properly excluded this
theory under Frye.
II.
P89 In rejecting the application of Frye to repressed memory,
the majority construes Rule 702, Ariz. R. Evid., governing the admissibility of
expert testimony, as though the trial court had no role in the process. This,
of course, requires the majority to reject Daubert because Daubert concluded
that Federal Rule 702, identical to our Rule 702, imposes a gatekeeping role on
the trial judge to ensure that only reliable expert testimony is admitted.
P90 As the majority acknowledges, both sides to this case ask
us to adopt Daubert. I believe the time has come to accept that invitation.
Daubert and Kumho apply a consistent and integrated approach to Rule 702. We
copied our Rule 702 from Federal Rule [***93] 702. While we certainly have the
authority to read it differently, there is no good reason to do so. Frye can
operate to exclude evidence which ought to be admitted. And, it might admit
evidence which ought to be excluded. This is especially true if the definition
of the relevant scientific community is quite narrow. For example, the
community of astrologers could simply say that astrology is generally accepted
among them. Under this approach, horoscopes would be admissible.
P91 Daubert, on the other hand, points out that scientific
testimony is admissible only if it is both relevant and reliable. Rule 702
assigns the trial judge the legal task of determining both the relevance and
the reliability of scientific foundation. As noted in Daubert, "in order
to qualify as 'scientific knowledge,' an inference or assertion must be derived
by the scientific method." Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590, 113
S. Ct. at 2795. Thus, scientific validity must precede evidentiary
reliability. See id.
P92 Kumho fills out Daubert quite nicely. By not limiting the
judicial role to scientific evidence, one avoids the abuse that the majority
approves [***94] here--"any
expert could sidestep scrutiny by characterizing the testimony as
'experience-based.'" Tracy A. Paulauskas, Note,
Volume III of the Daubert Trilogy: Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 39 Jurimetrics
J. 443, 450 (1999).
P93 The majority's treatment of Daubert, ante, at PP33-61, is
based upon a variety of views that I simply do not share. First, its criticism
of the United States Supreme Court's analysis and its characterization of its
opinion as a "jury argument," ante, at P40, are inappropriate.
Second, the majority shows a lack of confidence in trial judges that is simply
without foundation. To suggest that trial judges are in no better position than
jurors to separate junk science from good science is, I believe, an abdication
of a core role of the judge in our system of justice. To suggest that judges
"have little or no technical training" and have no time for hearings
on the admissibility of expert testimony, ante, at PP48-49, is unfounded. Rare
is the judge who has not attended formal programs involving scientific
evidence. Indeed, this court's Judicial College just sponsored a "Genetics
in the Courtroom" judicial education program [***95] based upon the idea that judges do
have a significant gatekeeping role, whether operating under Frye or Daubert.
See Arizona Supreme Court, Arizona/Southwest Conference on Genetics in the
Courtroom (Feb. 8-11, 2000). n4 This is
consistent [**140] [*497]
with a growing national awareness that judges are becoming more literate
in matters of science. See, e.g., Stephen Breyer,
The Interdependence of Science and Law, Judicature, Jul.-Aug. 1998, at 24.
n4 Justice Feldman tries to separate
himself from the Judicial College of Arizona, ante, at P50, n.13, but as a
former board member of the College, he knows that neither its work nor the work
of its parent, the Arizona Judicial Council, comes to the five members of this
court. With rare exception, the only matters that come before the five members
of this court are cases, rules, and some administrative issues.
The
number of participants in the conference was limited by the size of the grant
from the United States Department of Energy. Contrary to Justice Feldman's
assertion, 63 judges attended along with 30 scientific faculty.
Justice
Feldman complains about the letter of invitation, but he did not complain about
its language when he received the letter and chose not to attend the
conference. At all events, why hold such a conference if judges have no role in
the admission or exclusion of scientific evidence?
P94 And, they certainly do have time for hearings under Rule
104, Ariz. R. Evid., to determine the preliminary question of the admissibility
of evidence. In my experience, they do it every day. Today, the majority reads
Rule 104(a) out of our Rules of Evidence. That rule plainly assigns to the
trial judge the task of determining the preliminary question of the admissibility
of evidence. ("The admissibility of evidence shall be determined by the
court.") And in holding hearings, the trial judge, unlike the jury,
"is not bound by the rules of evidence." Rule
104(a), Ariz. R. Evid.
P95 Nor do I subscribe to the majority's new found dictum that
the Arizona Constitution prohibits trial judges from determining the
reliability of the scientific foundation for an expert's testimony. If this is
true, how then have we applied Frye at all? The majority offers no support for
its remarkable contention. Article 2, § 23 of the Arizona Constitution does
not address the scope of trial by jury. It simply states that the right of
trial by jury shall remain inviolate. In Brown v. Greer, 16 Ariz. 215, 221, 141
P. 841, 843 (1914), we held that the constitution does not grant a right to
trial by jury but simply preserves any right that existed at the time the
constitution was adopted. But our own judges, and those across America, have
always determined preliminary questions of admissibility. The jury gets to
decide factual disputes after evidence is admitted pursuant to the rules of
evidence. Jurors do not get to decide factual disputes that go to the
admissibility of evidence. The judge does that under Rule 104(a), Ariz. R.
Evid. The majority's view of the respective roles of judge and jury in the
admissibility of evidence is extraordinary. Judicial rulings on the
admissibility of scientific evidence under Daubert/Kumho would no more violate
the Arizona Constitution than do similar rulings violate the Seventh Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States. Bert W. Rein, The
Role of the Jury in the Evaluation of Scientific Evidence, 9 Kan. J.L. &
Pub. Pol'y
28, 31 (1999).
P96 So as not to belabor the point, I stop here. Suffice it to
say, there are almost no views or opinions expressed in the majority opinion
that I share.
III.
P97 If Frye is still the law of Arizona, then the trial court's
findings [***98] in
this case are unassailable. The theory of repressed memory has not found general
acceptance in the scientific community. Thus, it was proper for Judge McVey to
exclude expert opinion testimony on this subject. The majority's claim to
adhere to Frye and yet avoid this result is unfathomable. On the other hand, I
would, as both sides have suggested, replace Frye with Daubert and remand this
case for reconsideration in light of Daubert.
Frederick
J. Martone, Justice
McGREGOR, Justice, dissenting:
P98 Although I agree with much of Justice Martone's
dissent, I write separately to emphasize several areas of concern that today's
majority opinion raises.
P99 I am concerned about the tendency of the decision to
isolate Arizona's courts from the mainstream of judicial analysis. All federal
courts, of course, must apply Daubert n1 and Kumho n2 in
interpreting and applying Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which is identical to
Arizona Rule of Evidence 702. In addition, a large majority of states also follow [**141] [*498]
Daubert or a similar standard. See Heather G. Hamilton, The
Movement from Frye to Daubert: Where Do the States Stand?, [***99] 38 JURIMETRICS J. 201 (1998) (noting that by
December 15, 1997, thirty-three states had adopted Daubert).
n1
509 U.S. 579, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 125 L. Ed. 2d 469 (1993).
n2
526 U.S. 137, 119 S. Ct. 1167, 143 L. Ed. 2d 238 (1999).
P100 Arizona, therefore, now falls within a tiny minority of
jurisdictions that have chosen to adopt a unique interpretation of Rule 702. I
see two significant negative results. First, evidentiary rulings that could
significantly affect the outcome of litigation will differ depending upon
whether an action proceeds in state or in federal court. We have tried to avoid
such distinctions. Second, because our approach diverages
from that taken in most jurisdictions, Arizona's courts will lose the advantage
of being able to learn from and follow the reasoning of other courts as they
develop and apply Rule 702.
P101 I also am concerned that, by rejecting Daubert, we
lose the flexibility needed to admit evidence based upon reliable, but newly-developed,
scientific principles. Although the majority describes our experience with Frye
n3 as having been "not bad," Op. at P47, Frye has been
frequently criticized because the delay between the development of knowledge
and its ability to satisfy the "general acceptance" standard deprives
the courts of reliable evidence that should be placed before the trier of fact.
The time lag between progress and the ability to satisfy Frye becomes
more important as our scientific knowledge multiplies in ever shorter
intervals. In Arizona, unlike most jurisdictions, new data and principles,
regardless of their validity and reliability, will be excluded from our courts
until they attain general acceptance within the relevant scientific community. Frye,
despite its shortcomings, n4 may have provided an adequate basis for testing
scientific evidence in the past. I do not think, however, that test best
responds to the challenges facing courts today.
n3
54 App. D.C. 46, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923).
n4 Commentators and courts criticized Frye
for its difficulty of
application due to the inherent vagueness of the concept of "general
acceptance," its susceptibility to manipulation, the inconsistent results
it generates, its overly conservative exclusion of relevant evidence, the
tendency of courts to rely on previous judicial assessments of scientific
theories and techniques rather than their own evaluations, and the documented
admission of evidence satisfying Frye but subsequently deemed unreliable.
Richard Nahas, Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Requiem
for Frye: The Supreme Court Lays to Rest the Common Law Standard for
Admitting Scientific Evidence in the Federal Courts, 29 NEW ENG. L. REV.
93, 101-02 (1994) (citations omitted).
P102 I also question whether the distinction the majority makes
between "scientific" evidence, which must meet the Frye test
to be admissible, and "non-scientific" evidence, which need not
comply with Frye, rests on a firm basis. According to the majority,
evidence is "scientific" if an expert witness reaches his or her
conclusion through the use of deductive reasoning, and not scientific if the
expert relies upon inductive reasoning. Op. at P62. I
do not believe that distinction will prove useful and suspect it will produce
inexplicable evidentiary rulings. For example, research scientists tell us that
certain components of human behavior seem to be related to, and may be caused
by, genetic characteristics. In an action similar to that before us, if one
expert, relying upon his observations, reaches a conclusion about a party's
"human behavior" by reasoning inductively, his testimony would be
admissible so long as his credentials are acceptable. But if another expert
witness, with an equally impressive curriculum vitae,
concludes that the plaintiff's human behavior could be explained by reasoning
deductively from known principles of genetics, that expert's testimony would be
subject to the Frye analysis. The admissibility of testimony from two
expert witnesses about the same subject-a litigant's human behavior-would be
tested against two different standards. And, as noted above, whether each
expert can testify will depend in large part upon whether the action proceeds
in state or in federal court. I see no benefit to trial courts or litigants
from following a path that leads to such a result.
P103 Moreover, unlike the majority, I would not permit the
admission of unreliable evidence in the hope that the adversary process will
disclose its lack of validity. I do not think that allowing a jury to hear
unreliable, invalid "expert" evidence benefits either our judicial
system or the litigants. Under the approach of Daubert, which the
majority rejects, expert testimony can be admitted only if it is based on
reliable facts or data and on sound scientific methods and valid
procedures. 509 U.S.
592-93, 113 S. Ct. at 2796. If expert testimony cannot meet those
criteria and, therefore, does not rest on a reliable basis, I think it unlikely
its probative value could ever outweigh the danger of unfair prejudice, the
likely confusion of issues, or the likelihood the jury will be misled. See
ARIZ. R. EVID. 403. "The probative value of scientific evidence ... is
connected inextricably to its reliability; if the technique is not reliable,
evidence derived from the technique is not relevant." Paul C. Giannelli, The
Admissibility of Novel Scientific Evidence: Frye v. United States, a
Half-Century Later, 80 COLUM. L. REV. 1197, 1235 (1980). We can justify
admitting unreliable, invalid evidence only if we are willing to substitute a
trial judge's analysis of an expert witness's credentials for the judge's
analysis of the reliability of the data and methods used to produce the
expert's testimony.
P104 The majority's concerns, it seems to me, derive from an
overly-broad interpretation of Daubert/Kumho. The majority repeatedly
asserts that, if we adopt Daubert/Kumho, the trial judge will be
permitted to evaluate the reliability and credibility of an expert witness and
will determine the weight to give his or her testimony. Op. at PP44, 51-54. Daubert,
however, focuses not on the credibility of a witness, but upon the scientific
validity of the proffered evidence. 509 U.S. at 590, 113 S.
Ct. at 2795. The trial judge tests not the believability of an expert
witness, but rather the reliability of the witness's methodology. Unless we
conclude that permitting a jury to hear a credible witness testify about
unreliable, invalid "science" somehow assists the truth-finding
function, a conclusion I find untenable, we should not hesitate to adopt the Daubert
approach.
P105 For those reasons, I would adopt the Daubert/Kumho
approach and remand for a hearing applying those standards.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Bessel
A. van der Kolk, M.D.
16
Braddock Park, Boston, MA 02116
Date
of Birth: July 8, 1943
Citizenship:
USA
Married,
2 children
Place
of Birth: The Hague. Netherlands
S.S #
575-48-1595
Telephone (617)
247-3918 e-mail
vanderk@warren.med.harvard.edu Fax (617) 731 4917
Education:
1965
B.A. University of Hawaii
1970
M.D. University of Chicago Pritzker Sonool of Medicine
Rostdoctoral Training: Internship and Residencies:
1970-1971
Internship in Medicine, Queen's Mecical Center,
Honolulu, Hawaii
1971-1974
Resident in Psychiatry, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston
1978-1982
Personal [***105]
psychoanalysis
Licensure and Certification:
1971 Diplomate, American Board of Medical Examiners
1971
Massachusetts License (33726)
1976
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Psychiatry)
Academic Appointments:
1971-1974
Clinical Fellow in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
1975-1976
Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical
School
1975-1979
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tofts
University School of Medicine
1979-1983
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine
1992-1996
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
1996-
Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine
1996-
Saul Z. Cohen Chair in Child Mental Health, Jewisn
Board of Family and Children's Services. New York City.
Hospital Appointments:
1974-1978
Director, Inpatient Services.
West-Ros-Park MHC
1974-1978
Director, First Yr Residency Program, Boston State Hospital
1978-1983
Staff Psychiatrist, V A Outpatient Clinic, Court Street
1978-1983
Consultant in Psychopharmacology.
New England Medical Cntr
1980-1983
Director, Post-Traumatic Stress Laboratory, V.A. Outpatient Clinic
1983-1989
Consultant in Psychopharmacology, Cambridge Hospital
1983-1991
Director, Trauma Center, MMHC
1991-1994
Chief, Trauma Clinic, Mass General Hospital.
1984-
Consultant, Harvard Psychophysiology Laboratory, Manchester VA
1994-
Clinical Director HRI Trauma Center
Awards
and Honors:
1965 PHI Beta Kappa
1983
Fellow. American Psychiatnc Association.
1984
1988, 1989 1st prize.
Solomon Award. Harvard Dept of Psychiatry, 2nd prize, 1985, 1986 198
1989
Ramon Fernandez Marina Award, Puerto Rican Psychiatric Assoc.
1992
Shafer Research Award, National Organization for Victim Assistance
1992-
Best Doctors in America
1993
Pfizer visiting professor, University of New Mexico
1994
Eli Lilly Lecturer, Royal College of Psychiatrists. London
1995 Slavson Memorial Lecture, American Group Psychotnerapy Association (AGPA)
1996
Life time achievement Award.
Eastern regional conference on Abuse. Trauma and Dissociati
Other Professional Positions and Major
Visiting Appointments:
1966-1967
Research Assistant, Clinical Research Center, MMHC
1966-1967
Research Assistant, Sleep Laboratory Boston State Hosp
1969-1970
Research Assistant, Illinois Drug Abuse Program
1974-1980
Research Associate, [***107] Institute of Research and Renabilitation
Boston State Hospital
1983- Coordinator,
Harvard Trauma Study Group
1985-
Consultant, National Association for Victim Assistance (NOVA), Washington, D.C
1989-
Board of Advisors, National Center for PTSD
1989-
Consultant to the European Committee for the Study of the Breakdown of Human
Adaptation under Stress, London, England.
1989-
External advisor and co-investigator, Netherlands Study for PTSD in police
personnel, University of Amsterdam Netherlands
1990-1993
Co-principal Investigator, American Psychiatric Association DSM IV Field Trials
on PTSD.
1997-1998
Spincza Chair, University of Amsterdam
Editorial Board: Dissociation: Journal of
Traumatic Stress
Editorial Reviewer: New England Journal of Mecicine. American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of the
American Medical Association, Biological Psychiatry, J Clinical Psychiatry, J
Mental and Nervous Diseases Psychiatry, Psychosomatics. J
Neuropsychiatry. Psychiatry Research. Am J
Clinical Hypnosis, J Geriatric Psychiatry, J of Personality Disorders, J
Research on Adoiescence, Archives of General Psychiatry.
Current Research Activities:
1. The phenomenology [***108] of complex
post-traumatic syndromes
2. Functional changes in brain activity,
utilizing SPECT, in response to effective treatment of PTSD with Tom Hill and
Elizabeth Matthew, NEDH)
3. Trauma and memory -development and
utilization of Traumatic Memory Inventory (TMI) in a rang
of traumatized populations, including post-surgery patients and children who
have been molested.
4. Development of Treatment manual for
traumatized children
5. Memory processes in patients awaking
during surgery
Major Committee Assignments:
Tufts
University School of Medicine:
1981-1983
Medical School Admissions Committee Veterans Administration Clinic:
1980-1983
Research Committee
1980-1982
Chairman, Quality Assurance Committee
Massachusetts
Mental Health Center
1983
Solomon Awards Judge.
1985-91
Research Committee
1985-91
Curriculum Committee.
1986-91
Continuing Education Committee
Massachusetts General Hospital:
Training
Committee
Research
Meeting
Memberships, Offices and Committee
Assignments in Professional Societies
1974-
Massachusetts Psychiatric Society,
1974-
American Psychiatric Association, Fellow since 1983.
1974-88
Boston Society for Gerontologic [***109] Psychiatry
1976-
Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy
1976-
American Group Psychotherapy Association
1979-83
Association for the Psychoohysiological Study of
Sleep
1978-82
Board of Directors, Boston Society for Gerontologic
Psychiatry
1982-82
Chairman Training Committee, Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy
1985-88
Board of Directors, Northeastern Society for Grp Psychother
1985-86
Taskforce on Victimization, American Psychiatric Ass. 1985-88 Chairman, treatment innovations
committee, Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
1986-
Program Committee, International Society for Multiple Personality and Dissociative Disorders (ISMPDD)
1986-89
Board of Directors, Galilee Health Society, Israel
1987-
Board of Directors, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS)
1988-
Board of Advisors, Trauma Center, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
1988-89
Chairman, International Liaison Committee, STSS.
1988-
Member, American Psychiatric Association DSM IV Workgroup on PTSD
1989-
Board of Advisors, International Center for the Treatment of Torture Victims,
University of Minnesota
1989-92
Board of Advisors, NAIM Foundation.
1990-
Taskforce on Disasters,
[***110] American
Psychiatric Association.
1990-91
President, the International Society for Traumatic
Stress Studies
1996
Presidential Advisory Board on the Persian Gulf Veterans
Academic Grand Rounds - U.S. Mass General Hospital, Beth Israel,
Cambridge Hospital, MMHC, McLe Jufts,
Boston University, UMass, Brown, Cornell, Columbia,
Dartmouth, Yale, NIMH, U of Minnesota, Oreg Michigan,
Washington, Hawaii, New Mexico. North Carolina, Menninger
Foundation, Vermont, Kansas, Du Rush, UCSF, UCLA, UCSF, UCSD.
Academic Grand
Rounds International, Maudsley, Tavistock, Cambridge,
University College, Chester.
Universities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Maastricnt,
Rotterdam Ghent, Louvain, Gavanger,
Moscow, Budapest, Tel Aviv, Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing,
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Auckland, Weilington.
Goettingen,
Istanbul, Pretoria, Witwatersrand, Toranto, Edmonton,
Vancouver, Linkoping, Ottawa, Groble
Schour Hospital, Karclinska
Institute, Hadassah Medical School.
Selected Teaching Experiences:
1 Harvard and Tufts Affiliated Hospitals
1974-83
Medical Student teaching, Tufts Medical School.
1974-78
In charge of the third year Tufts medical student [***111] rotation at the West-Ros-Park MHC
1978-83
Planned for and helped to teach the second year Tufts
psychopathology course, and gave the lectures on suicide, aging, and affective
disorders.
1978-83
Psychopharmacoicgy teaching, Tufts/New England Mecical Center.
In charge of teaching biological psychiatry and
psychopharmacology to residents and fellows.
1983-90 Director of
Group Psycnotherapy. Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Planning and coordinating the group therapy program, teaching advanced group
seminars.
1983-85
Coordinator of psychopharmacology Training, Cambridge Hosp Teaching
of basic and advanced psychopharmacology seminars
1981-83
Supervision of group psychotherapy, New England Med Cntr
1982-present
Supervision of individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy. psychopharmacology,
and participation in core seminars at Harvard Medical School and Boston
University teaching hospitals.
2 Harvard Medical School
1981
Faculty, HMS MMHC, CME Clinical Geriatric Psychopharmacology
1983
Faculty HMS CME MMHC: Waking, sleeping and dreaming. The
psychopathology of dreams and nightmares.
1984
Course director - HMS CME Symposium: Psychological trauma. Presentation: [***112] "Fixation on the trauma:
Psychological and biological dimensions of the compulsion to repeat or
remember"
1985,
1986-Harvard Mecical School 700A course: The
psychology and psychobiology of attachment and separation
1985
HMS CME/Children's Hospital, Symposium on Abuse and Victimization. Post traumatic stress in men Effect on
family life.
1985
HMS/Massachusetts General Hospital CME Symposium on Group Psychotherapy. "Individual and group
psychotherapy".
1986,
87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 Course director,
HMS/MMHC CME Course: Psychological Trauma
1987
HMS CME. Mass General
Hospital Anxiety Disorders: The effect of trauma on the development of chronic
anxiety
1988
HMS CME Symposium. Cambridge Hospital. Self-hate and selfmutilation.
1988
HMS/Children's Hospital CME Conference on "Abuse and victimization".
"Disclosure in groups and institutions: shame, blame, and
reenactment."
1989
HMS/Cambriage Hospital Symposium on Suicide
"Childhood trauma and selfmutilation"
1989
HMS/Children's Hospital Annual Conference on Abuse and Victimization: "The
Psychobiclogy of Terror: Implications for treatment
through the life cycle".
1989
HMS/Cambridge Hospital CME Conference on Women.
1990
HMS/Massachusetts General Hospital CME Conference on the Treatment of
Adolescents.
"Childhood trauma and self-destructive behavior"
1992,93,94,95
HMS/Mass General Hospital Section on Post Traumatic Stress in Board Review
1992,93,94,95
HMS/Mass General Hospital Symposium on Personality Disorders.
American Psychiatric Association Annual
Meetings
1983
New York, Symposium chairman: American Psychiatric Association Annual Mtg: New York. Posttraumatic stress
disorder. Paper "Clinical Implications of the Rorschach in
PTSD".
1982
Toronto Symposium onairman. American Psychiatric
Association annual Mtg. Toronto. Combat trauma.
1985
Dallas, Symposium Chairman: American Psychiatric Association, Annual Mtg Dallas: Psychological trauma in children and adults. The compulsion to repeat trauma-addiction or mastery?
1988
Montreal, 1.
"Stress Induced Analgesia in PTSD, reversible by Naloxone".
1989
San Francisco. Symposium on "Effects of Childhood Trauma in Personality
Disorders" Presentation on "Childhood Trauma and Self-destructive Behavior."
Symposium on "Developmental Trauma and Neurobiologic Dysregulation"
Paper presentation on Endogenous opioids and Post
Traumatic Stress. [***114]
1990
New York Chair: The psychological Processing of Traumatic Expenence
1991
New Orleans. Childhood antecedents and biological concomitants of selfmutilation.
1992
Washington DC Presentation of the results of the DSM IV Field Trials for PTSD
1993
San Francisco.
Disorders of Extreme Stress: Fluoxetine in PTSD: Dissociatior in Psychiatric Inpatients.
1994
Philadelphia. Chair, Symposium on Trauma and Memory. Also
Symposium on Role of Psychotherapy in psychiatric training.
1995 Miaml, Chair, Invited Symposium on the Psychopiology
of Post Traumatic Stress with Rachel Yehuda. Steven
Southwick, Robert Pynoos, AC McFarlane and Scott
Rauch
1996
New York, The Psychobiology of PTSD. Plenary Symposium
on: Restoring the shattered self"
1997
San Diego. Memory
processes in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dissociation.
Miscellaneous presentations, U.S.
(sample)
1985
Invited address on the "Psychobiology of post-traumatic stress." Founding meeting of the Society for the Study of Post Traumatic
Stress. Atlanta, GA. September 23, 1985.
1986
Invited speaker, National Institutes of Mental Health Conference on "Long
term effects of violence: cross cultural, treatment, and research [***115] issues"
Washington DC.
1986
Invited speaker, International Congress on Dissociative
Disorders, Chicago "Amnesia, dissociation, and the return of the repressed
revisited".
1987
11th Annual Semrad Memorial Lecture. Northeast Socrety
for Group Psychotherapy: The role of the group in the resolution of
overwhelming life experiences.
1987
Plenary speaker, International Congress on Dissociative
Disorders. "The Human Response to Trauma through the Life Cycle",
Chicago. IL.
1988
The Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital. Symposium on Disscciative Disorders. "Trauma
and Dissociative phenomena through the life cycle.
1988
Invited speaker. American College of Neuropsychopharmacoiogy
(ACNP). "Stress Induced Analgesia in PTSD".
1989
Keynote speaker, Federal Bureau of Investigation Conference on Post Traumatic
Stress in Police Personnel, Quantico
1990
Plenary Address, National Phobia Society, Washington, DC
1990
Opening address, the Johnson Foundation/Wingpread
conference on Children in Crisis
1990
Plenary Speaker, 6th International Conference on Multiple Personality and Dissociative Disorders. Chicago, III
1991
Keynote Speaker, American Academy for Psychiatry and the Law, NYC
1992
Keynote speaker on "Current research on the role of trauma in the
development of borderline personality disorder". Conference in honor of
Otto Kernberg at the Institute of the Pennsylvania
Hospital.
1993
American College of Psychiatrists.
Disorders of Extreme Stress: results of the DSM IV Field Trials for PTSD
1993
Plenary speaker Amencan College of Psychiatry and the
Law
1993
Plenary speaker. International Conference on Multiple Personality Disorcers and Dissociative
Disorders. Trauma and Memory
1993 Semrad Lecture, Northeast Society for Group Psychotherapy. The multiple reenactments of trauma in groups.
1994
Plenary speaker.
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies: Trauma, Memory and
Dissociation.
1995
Plenary speaker, American Professional Soclety for
the Abused Children.
San Diego.
1995
Plenary speaker, American Group Psychotherapy Association Annual Meeting:
Trauma and Memory
1996
Plenary speaker, British Society for the Study of Dissociation
1996
Plenary speaker, EMDR Congress, Denver
1996
New York Academy of Sctences. Trauma and Memory: lessons from recent
brain imaging studies
Visiting
professorships, North America.
1989
Rush Medical School, Chicago
1991
University of Hawaii
1992,
1996 University of Alberta Medical School.
1993
University of New Mexico
Keynote Lectures, State Psychiatric
Associations:
Connecticut,
Maine, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia,
Texas, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, California. Oregon,
Washington, Wisconsin, Hawaii.
Miscellaneous presentations & visiting
professorships, International
1986
Invitec speaker, International Conference on
Political Psychology.
Amsterdam, Netherlands. "The pathology of the trauma
response throughout the life cycle".
1987
Chairman, Symposium on PTSD. International Congress on New
Directions in Affective Disorders, Jerusalem, Israel.
1988
Invited address, Annual meeting of the Society of Psychoanalysis. Montreal.
'Pierre Janet and contemporary views of trauma
1988,
1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997. Visiting Professor University of
Amsterdam.
1989
International Congress on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tel Aviv. Israel
Keynote Speaker. "On the compulsion to repeat
trauma".
1989
Plenary Soeaker International Symposium on Stress,
Biological Rhythms and Psychiatric Disorders/ University [***118] of Utreont, Netherlands.
1990
Invited lecture, Hungarian Psychiatric Association Budapest. The
psychobiology of the trauma response.
1990
Plenary speaker, USSR Ministry of Health conference on PTSD, Moscow. "Trauma and Society: the long term
effects of helplessness and survival" and "The psychobiology
of trauma"
1990
Plenary speaker. 2nd European Conference on Post Traumatic Stress. Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands. Current
status of biological research in PTSD.
1990
Keynote, Belgian College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Brussels. "Current status on psychobiology research in PTSD"
1991
Keynote speaker, Centenary celebration of the Netherlands Society for Clinical
Hypnosis. The Hague
Netherlands
1992
Chair, Plenary on Biological Psychiatry. World Congress on PTSD Amsterdam, Netherlands
1993
Plenary Speaker, 2nd Australian Congress on Post Traumatic Stress
1994
Eli Lilly Lecture, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London
1994
Plenary Speaker European Pediatric Congress. Erasmus University.
Rotterdam: Childhood Trauma and Psychiatric Illness
1994
Keynote, Australian and New Zealand Association for Psychotherapy. Sydney
1995
Plenary speaker, European Society for the Study [***119] of Dissociation, Amsterdam
1995
Keynote, Emotion et memoire,
Hommage a Pierre Janet, 4th Europpean
Conference on Post Traumatic Stress. Association du language francais pour l'etude de
stress traumatique (ALFEST) Paris
1995
Plenary Speaker, International Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, Athens
1995
Keynote speaker, 2nd International Congress of the Biology of Affective
Disorders, Jerusalem
1995
European Interdisciplinary Society on Biological Psychiatry, Utrecht
1996
Plenary speaker Australian and New Zealand Society for Dissociation, Melbourne
1996
Keynote. Traumadagene Stavanger,
Norway
1997
Keynote, Psychosomatic Congress. Cairns, Australia
1997
Invited speaker, First Japanese Congress on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
University of Tokyo, Japan
PUBLICATIONS
Original Reports
1. van der Kolk
BA, Hartmann E. Sensory deprivation and subsequent sleep. Psychophysiology
968:5:234.
2. Renault PE. Schuster CR, van der Kolk BA et al. Altered plasma cortisol
levels in patients on methacone maintenance. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1972:13:269-272.
3. Salzman C, van der Kolk
BA. Shader
Rl. Marijuana and hostility in a small group setting.
AM J Psychiatry [***120]
1975:144:1029-1033.
4. Salzman C, Kocharsky
GE, van der Kolk BA, Shader
RI. The effects of marijuana on small group process. Am J Drug Abuse 1977:4:251-255.
5. Salzman C, van der Kolk
BA. Psychotrcpic drug prescriptions for
elderly patients in a general Hospital, J Am Geriat
Soc 1980:38:18-22.
6. Salzman C, van der Kolk
BA. Psychotropic drug use and polypharmacy
in a general hospital. J Seriat Psychiatry
1979:12:167-176
7. Hartmann E. van der Kolk BA, Olfield M. A preliminary
study of the personality of the nightmare sufferer Am J Psychiat
1981:138:794-797
8. van der Kolk
BA. Goldberg H. Aftercare of schizophrenic patients: Pharmacoiogy
and consistency of therapists. Hosp Comm Psychiatry
1983:4:340-343.
9. van der Kolk
BA. Psychopharmacclogical issues in the treatment of
post-traumatic stress. Hosp Comm Psychiatry
1983:4:683-691.
10. van der Kolk
BA. The idealizing transference and group treatment of the
elderly. J Geriat Psychiatry 1983:16:95-98.
11. van der Kolk
BA. Blitz R. Burr WA, Hartmann E. Nightmares and trauma: Life-long and
traumatic nightmares in veterans. Am J Psychiatry
1984:141:187-190.
12. van der Kolk
BA. Greenberg M. [***121] Bayd H. Krystal J: Inescapable shock, neurotransmitters, and
addiction to trauma: toward a psychobiology of post traumatic stress. Biol Psychiatry 1985:20:314-325.
13. van der Kolk
BA, Adolescent vulnerability to post traumatic stress. Psychiatry, 48: 365-370
1985.
14. van der Kolk
BA, The use of Lithium Carbonate in non-affective disorders. Hosp Comm Psychiat, 37:675-77, 684,
1986.
15. van der Kolk
BA. The drug treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
J. Affective Dis. 13:203-213, 1987
16.
Beck J, van der Kolk BA. Reports of
Childhood Incest and Current Behavior of Chrontcally Hospitalized
Psychotic women. Am J Psychiatry
144:1474-1476, 1987
17. van der Kolk
BA. The Trauma Spectrum: The interaction of biological and social events in the
genesis of the trauma response. J Traumatic Stress.
1:273-290, 1988
18. Herman JL. Perry JC. van der Kolk BA Childhood Trauma
in Borderline Personality Disorder. Am J Psychiat
146: 490-495, 1989.
19. Perry JC, Herman JL, van cer Kolk BA, Hoge
E: Psychotherapy and psychological trauma in Borderline Personality
Disorder, Psychiatnc Annais.
1990:20:33-43.
20. van der Kolk
BA: The compulsion to repeat [***122] trauma: revictimization,
attachment and masochism. Psychiat Clin N America. 12:389-411, 1989.
21. van der Kolk
BA, Ducey C: The psychological Processing of
Traumatic Experience: Rorschaon patterns in PTSO J
Traumatic Stress. 2:259-274, 1989.
22. van der Kolk
BA, Greenberg MS. S. Pitman RK: Pain Perception and endogenous opioids in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Psychopharm Bull 25: 117-121, 1989.
23. van der Kolk
BA, van der Hart C: Pierre Janet and the breakdown of adaptation in
Psychological Trauma. Am J Psychiat.146:1330-1342, 1989
24. van der Kolk BA, van cer Harn C. Brown P. Pierre Janet and contemporary views on
Post Traumatic Stress.
J Traumatic Stress. 2: 365-380, 1989.
25. van der Hart C.
Brown P. Van cer Kolk. BA: Pierre Janet's Treatment of Post
Traumatic Stress. J Traumatic Stress, 2:4, 1989
26. van der Hart O. Brown P. van der Kolk BA: Le traitement psychologique du stress post-traumatique de Pierre Janet mecico-psychologiques.
147, 976-980, 1989.
27. Pitman RK, van der Kolk BA Orr S Greenberg MS: Naloxone
reversible Stress Induced Analgesia In Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder Arch Gen Psychiat, 47:541-547, 1990
28. van der Kolk
BA [***123] De
rot van de groeo bij het ontstaan en het overgaan van de reactie op cen trauma, ICODO
7:31-46, 1990
29. van der Kolk
BA, Saporta: The Psychobiology of trauma; mechanisms
and treatment of intrusion and numbing. Anxiety Res 4:199-212, 1991.
30. van der Kolk
BA, Perry JC, Herman JL: Childhood origins of self-destructive behavior. Am J Psychiat 148: 1665-167: 1991.
31. van der Kolk
BA, van der Harn C. The intrusive past: the
flexibility of memory and the engraving of trauma. Imago 48: 425-454, 1991.
32. Moleman N,
van der Han C. van cer Kolk
BA (1992): The Partus Stress Reaction: a neglected
aspect of post partum psychopathology J New Ment
Disease, 180 271-272.
33. Saxe GN, Vasile RG, Hill JC, Bloomingdale
K, van der Kolk BA: Temporal lobe changes in Multipie Personality Disorders demonstrated by rCBF and SPECT Imaging, J Ment Nerv Dis, 1992.
34. Robfoll SE,
Spielberger, C. Folkman S, Meichenbaum D, Sandler, I, Sarason I & van der Kolk BA:
War related stress, addressing the stress of war and traumatic events. American Psychologist, 1991.
35. Saxe G, van
der Kolk BA, Chinman G,
Berkowitz R: Dissociative Disorders in the Mental
Hospital Am J Psychiatry, [***124] 1993: 150: 1037-1042
36. Herzog DB, Staley JE, Carmody S, Robbins WM, van der Kolk
BA: Childhood sexual abuse in anorexia nervosa and bulemia
nervosa. J Am Acad Child Adolsec
Psychiat, 1993
37. van der Kolk
BA, Dreyfuss D. Berkowitz R. Saxe
G. Shera D & Michaels M: Fluoxetine
in Post Traumatic Stress. J Clin Psychiat,
517-522, 1994.
38. van der Kolk,
BA: The Body keeps the Score: Memory and the evolving Psychobiology of Post
Traumatic Stress. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 1: 253-65, 1994
39. van der Kolk,
BA, Fisler R: Childhood abuse & neglect and loss
of self-regulation. Bull Menninger Clinic 58:
145-168, 1994
40. Saxe GN, Chirman G. Berkowitz R, Hall K. Lieberg
G Sonwartz J & van der Kolk.
BA Somatization in patients with dissociative
disorders. Am J Psychiat 151: 1329-1335, 1994
41. van der Kolk
BA, Fisler R Dissociation and the fragmentary nature
of traumatic memories: background and experimental evidence, J Traumatic
Stress, 9, 505-525.
42. van der Kolk
BA & Herzog J Terror and the Transmission of Trauma in a middle aged man.
Harvard Review of Psychiatry 1995: 3: 96-100
43. Baker DG, Diamond BI, Gillerte, G. Hamner M. Katzeinick D. Keller [***125] T. Mellman
TA. Pontius E. van der Kolk BA. Katz R: A double
blind, placebo controlled study of brofaromine in the
treatment of post traumatic stress disorder. Psychopharmacology, 122: 386-389
1995.
44. van der Kolk.
BA, Pelcovitz D. Roth S. Mandel F. McFarlane AC,
Herman, J: Dissociation. somatization
and affect dysregulation: the complexity of adaption to trauma. Am J Psychiat 153 (suppl): 83-93. 1996
45. Rauch S. van der Kolk
BA, Fisler R. Alpert N. Orr S, Savage C. Jenike M. Pitman R: A symptom provocation study using
Positron Emission Tomography and Script Driven imagery Arch Gen Psychiatry. 53,
380-387, 1996
46. Pelcovitz
D. van der Kolk BA, Rotn S.
Mandel F. Kaplan S & Resick P. Development of a criteria set and structured interview for Disorders of
Extreme Stress. J Traum Stress 1997: 10, 3-16.
47. Roth S, Pelcovitz
D. van der Kolk BA, Mandel F. Complex PTSD in victims
exposed to sexual and physical abuse J Traumatic Stress, In Press.
48. Roth S, van der Kolk
BA, Pelcovitz D: Borderline Personality Disorder and
Disorders of Extreme Stress. J Cons Clin
Pychol. In Press
49. van der Kolk
BA: The psychobiology of traumatic memory: clinical implications [***126] of neuroimaging studies. Annals New York
Academy of Sciences. In Press.
50. Per reviewed Book chapters
containing original reports:
1. Cole JO, Gardos
G. Tarsy D, Granacher RP. Smiffin C, van der Kolk BA et al.
Drug trials in persistent dyskinesia (Clozapine). In: Smith RC, Davis JM, Fahn
WE eds. Tardive dyskinesia,
research and treatment. New York, Plenum, 1979.
Book Chapters and Reviews
1. Salzman C, van der Kolk
BA. Shader
Rl. Somatic treatment of the elderly patient.
In: Shader Rf. ed. Manual
of psychiatric therapeutics. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975: 171-184
2. Salzman C, van der Kolk
BA. Clinical pharmacology and the elderly patient: A review NY J Med 1976:71-77
3. van der Kolk BA, Shader Rl, Greenbiatt DJ. Autonomic side effects
of psychotropic drugs. In Lipton M, DiMascio
A, Killam K. eds. Psychopharmacology: A generation of
progress New York: Raven, 1978: 1009-1916.
4. van der Kolk
BA. Organic problems in the aged: Brain syndromes and alcoholism. J Geriat Psychiatry 1978:11:131-134.
5. van der Kolk
BA. Organic problems in the aged: Brain syndromes and alcoholism: Discussion.
J Geriat Psychiatry 1978:11:167-170.
6. van der Kolk
BA. Organic problems in the aged: introductory remarks on alcoholism. J Geriat Psychiatry 1978:11:171-174.
7. van der Kolk
BA. The psychiatric assessment of the geriatric patient.
In: Nandy K. ed. Geriatric psychopharmacology.
Amsterdam: Elsevier North Holiand, 1979:65-80.
8. van der Kolk
BA, Boyd H, Krystal J and Greenberg MS. Learned
helplessness as a model of post-traumatic stress: Physiological and
pharmacological implications. Inivan der Kolk BA, ed. Post traumatic stress disorder:
Psychological and biological sequelae.
Washington, D.C., APA Press. 1984.
9. van der Kolk
BA. Ducey C: Clinical Implications of the Rorschaon in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In: van der Kolk, BA(ed): Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder: Psychological and biological Sequelae.
Washington D C. American Psychiatric Press, 1984.
10. Salzman C, van der Kolk BA. Treatment of depression.
In: Salzman C, ed. Clinical geriatric psychopharmacology. NY: McGraw-Hill,
1984.
11. van der Kolk
BA. The biological response to psychic trauma. In: Ochberg F, ed. Post traumatic therapy. N.Y, Brunner/Mazel 1987
12. van der Kolk
BA, Post traumatic stress in men: the impact on the family. [***128]
In: Strauss M. Newberger E. (eds)Abuse and victimization: a life span perspective, Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1988.
13. van der Kolk
BA. The clinical symptomatology of Post Traumatic
Stress A developmental perspective. In: Salasin S, ed. The aftermath of
crime: A mental health crisis NIMH Task Force report. 1988.
14. van der Kolk
BA: Psychobiological correlates of the Trauma Response. In B Lerer and S Gershon (eds): New
Directions in the Affective Disorders. Springer Verlag. New
York, 1988.
15. van der Kolk
BA: The psychobiology of developmental trauma. In: Stoudemire
A (ed): An introduction to human behavior for medical
students. Lipincott, 1989-2nd edition, 1994
16. van der Kolk
BA: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In: Handbook of Psychiatry for Medical
Students. M Jenike and S Hyman (eds).
Boston. Little Brown, 1990.
17. van der Kolk
BA, Saporta JA: The psychobiology of the human trauma
response. In: International Handbock of Traumatic
Stress. J Wilson and B Rafael (eds) N.Y. Plenum Press.
1991.
18. Pitman RK, Orr S, van der Kolk BA, Greenberg MS: Analgesia: a new dependent variable
for the study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. M. Wolf and E [***129] Moshaim
(eds). PTSD: etiology, phenomenoly and treatment.
Washington, American Psychiatric Press. 1990. pp 141- 147.
19. van der Kolk
BA: The Spectrum of Group Psychotherapies for catastrophic stress. In A Alonso
(ed): Group Psychotherapy. Am
Psychiat Press, 1991
20. van der Kolk
BA. Group psychotherapy with Post Traumatic Stress Disorders.
In: Kapian Hl, Sadock BJ:
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