 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Steelman9/13/1978
octors Austin and Cavanaugh to testify as to an opinion which was based on facts not in evidence.
However, after the trial, we stated in the case of State v. Clark, 112 Ariz. 493, 543 P.2d 1122, decided on 19 December 1975, that the test is whether the information relied upon by the expert is of a kind normally relied upon by experts in the particular field in question. Under Clark, supra, the psychiatrists could base their opinions upon the facts of the California murders even though these facts were not in evidence. Defendant contends that Clark should not be applied retroactively as it would be an ex post facto law. We do not agree. The constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws refers to legislation and not to judicial opinion. Frank v. Mangum, 237 U.S. 309, 35 S.Ct. 582, 59 L.Ed. 969 (1915); Ross v. Oregon, 227 U.S. 150, 33 S.Ct. 220, 57 L.Ed. 458 (1913). But see Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 84 S.Ct. 1697, 12 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964). The Clark decision, while it admittedly changed a previous rule of evidence in Arizona, was not a change in the statutory law.
Neither does the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws apply to changes in the rules of evidence, whether statutory or court made. The United States Supreme Court long ago stated:
"* * * Statutes which simply enlarge the class of persons who may be competent to testify in criminal cases are not ex post facto in their application to prosecutions for crimes committed prior to their passage; for they do not attach criminality to any act previously done, and which was innocent when done, nor aggravate any crime theretofore committed, nor provide a greater punishment therefor than was prescribed at the time of its commission, nor do they alter the degree, or lessen the amount or measure, of the proof which was made necessary to conviction when the crime was committed. * * *." Hopt v. Utah, 110 U.S. 574, 589, 4 S.Ct. 202, 210, 28 L.Ed. 262, 268 (1884).
And:
"* * * If persons excluded upon grounds of public policy at the time of the commission of an offense, from testifying as witnesses for or against the accused, may, in virtue of a statute, become competent to testify, we cannot perceive any ground upon which to hold a statute to be ex post facto which "does nothing more than admit evidence of a particular kind in a criminal case upon an issue of fact which was not admissible under the rules of evidence as enforced by judicial decisions at the time the offense was committed. * * *" Thompson v. Missouri, 171 U.S. 380, 387, 18 S.Ct. 922, 924, 43 L.Ed. 204, 207 (1898).
In the instant case, the crimes for which defendant was charged, the punishment to be imposed, and the quantity or degree of proof necessary to convict remained the same; only the admissibility of certain evidence was changed. We find no ex post facto violation.
Steelman next contends that the doctors should not be allowed to base their testimony on the California murders because in order to keep evidence of the California murders out of the trial, Steelman was not able to effectively cross-examine the doctors concerning the reasons for their opinions. Steelman relies on Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973) where the United States Supreme Court held that it was a due process violation to prevent the defendant from cross-examining his own witness under the Mississippi voucher rule even though the witness was adverse to his interests. Chambers can be distinguished from the present case in that the result of the application of the voucher rule in Chambers was
<
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Arizona DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|