(DOWNLOAD) "Commonwealth v. Conklin" by Texas Supreme Court ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Commonwealth v. Conklin
- Author : Texas Supreme Court
- Release Date : January 24, 2006
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 71 KB
Description
Recently, in Commonwealth v. Dengler, 890 A.2d 372 (Pa. 2005), this Court held that expert testimony proffered in a Megans Law II hearing to determine if a defendant is a sexually violent predator ("SVP") is not subject to the Pennsylvania test for admissibility of novel scientific testimony derived from Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923). In the case sub judice, this Court granted review to consider a separate question concerning the contours of an SVP hearing under Megans Law II: "Whether the Commonwealth, as part of its burden of proof in a proceeding to determine whether an individual is a sexually violent predator, must present evidence, in the form of a clinical diagnosis by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, that the individual suffers from a personality disorder or mental abnormality that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses?" Commonwealth v. Conklin, 867 A.2d 1261 (Pa. 2005) (per curiam). The lower courts found that the licensed clinical social worker who testified in the SVP hearing in this case, though not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, nevertheless was qualified to offer opinion testimony on the question of whether appellant was an SVP because the clinical social worker qualified as a criminal justice expert and the statute requires no more. We agree with the lower courts interpretation of the statutory requirement, and we therefore affirm.