Free The Furthest City Light by Jeanne Winer Page B

of a battered woman, my client won’t receive a fair trial. I can’t stress how pivotal this testimony is to our case—”
    “Ms. Stein,” Judge Thomas interrupted, “I understand how important you think this is. Please, why don’t we hear directly from Dr. Midman?”
    “Thank you, Judge. May I assume you’ll accept her as an expert on the psychology of battered women without my having to qualify her?”
    “Yes, for the purposes of this hearing only.”
    Jeff was beginning to feel left out. He jumped up and stated his strong opposition to my motion, reminded the judge that no court in Colorado had ever recognized the syndrome, and how unfair it would be to the prosecution if the defense were allowed to call an expert to give an opinion about whether the defendant acted in self-defense when the defendant was perfectly capable of taking the stand and telling the jury herself.
    “It’s not rocket science, Judge,” Jeff argued. “Despite Ms. Stein’s assertions to the contrary, the issue of whether a person acted in self-defense is fairly simple to determine. If you allow Ms. Stein to call Dr. Midman at trial, you’ll be allowing her to put her client on twice to say essentially the same thing. It’s unfair and it’s unnecessary.”
    The judge nodded. “I understand your position as well, Mr. Taylor. And now, could we put Dr. Midman on the stand?”
    I motioned to Karen Midman, who was sitting in the courtroom, to come forward. My proposed expert was indeed lovely, which never hurt. I watched Judge Thomas follow her progress from the back of the room to the witness stand. She was slender, with green eyes, and honey-colored hair that kept falling across her face. Her blue silk pantsuit fit her perfectly. She sat down, smiled at the judge, and then raised her arm for the oath. I glanced over at Jeff and caught his eye. Using standard courtroom telepathy, I told him I was sorry, but that I had to win this issue no matter what. You’re not sorry, he shot back, and I hope to God you lose.
    After a few preliminary questions, I asked my expert to explain the battered woman syndrome.
    She nodded. “Certainly. The syndrome constitutes a series of common characteristics that appear in women who are physically and psychologically abused over an extended period of time by a dominant male figure in their lives. Although in rare circumstances the victim may be a male, the literature suggests that the vast majority of victims are women. Dr. Lenore Walker conceived the phrase, ‘battered woman syndrome’ in 1979 in her groundbreaking book, The Battered Woman . I’ve included in my affidavit a bibliography of other books and studies on the subject that I’m familiar with as well.” She stopped and took a drink of water.
    I waited until she put her glass down. “Dr. Midman, are you aware of any cases in this country where the syndrome has been recognized by a district court judge in a criminal case?”
    “Yes. It’s been recognized in a number of states. Two years ago, for instance, it was recognized in Washington in a case called State versus Allery . I was the expert witness in that case. I know it has also been recognized in New Jersey, North Dakota, Missouri and Kansas. There may be other states, but those are the ones that come to mind.”
    “Thank you. Could you now tell the court why expert testimony is crucial in this particular case?”
    “Absolutely. In a battering relationship, violence doesn’t occur all the time. Rather, there’s a cycle of violence, which has three phases. The first is a tension-building phase, the second is the acute battering stage and the third is a tranquil and loving phase. The cycle is continually repeated until the victim becomes unable to predict her own safety or the effect that her behavior will have on the abuser. As a result, the woman is reduced to a state of learned helplessness and is no longer capable of determining exactly when she is in danger. Because Emily stabbed