Link: The Globe and Mail: Texas mother's conviction overturned.
Coincidentally after my last post, this sad case of Andrea Yates made the news. Andrea Yates was the Texas mother who drowned her five children. At trial she relied on the insanity defense, but he state's expert testified that she was not insane and had likely gotten the idea from a recent episode of the TV series Law and Order (she was apparently a big fan). It turns out that there was no such episode.
The case underscores the importance of the trial court's duties to ensure that expert testimony is reliable. There are grave consequences for the legal system if improper opinions are admitted based on some claim that they are "expert" testimony. The trial judges really are the "gatekeepers" here.
Update: Blog 702 has pertinent observations here.
Comments