On the evening of April, 19, 1989, twenty-eight-year old investment banker, Trisha Meili, was attacked while jogging in Central Park. During the assault, she was dragged into a ravine, beaten, sexually assaulted, and left for dead. One week later, when she emerged from a coma, she had no memory of the attack. The brutal assault of Meili, which would become …
Child Witness Credibility
In the 1980s, a number of high profile multivictim child sexual abuse cases captured the attention of the nation. The most notorious of these was the McMartin preschool case, which made history as the longest and most expensive criminal trial to that date. Though no convictions were obtained in the McMartin case, the trial set a precedent for the ways …
Psychological Personal Injury Evaluations, Trauma, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
This article reviews best practices for conducting psychological personal injury evaluations in civil proceedings. It may be useful for attorneys to review in order to understand the components of an effective personal injury evaluation and to prepare for the cross-examination of opposing psychological experts. Analysis of Pre-Injury Psychological Functioning: During personal injury evaluations, the primary issue at hand is not …
Youthful Offender Psychological Mitigation Evaluations for Franklin Hearings and Other High Stakes Proceedings
This article reviews the legal basis, research foundations, and evaluation structure of youthful offender mitigation evaluations in California. Mitigation evaluations may be conducted on defendants of any age. However, in California, they hold unique importance during high stakes proceedings involving youthful offenders, due to case law and statutory schemes which consider the impact of incomplete brain development (prior to age …