State v. Marrington

This criminal case requires that we decide whether an expert’s testimony that delay in reporting is a predominant feature in a child’s disclosure of sexual abuse is scientific evidence and therefore subject to the standards for evidentiary admission established by this court in State v. Brown, 297 Or 404, 687 P2d 751 (1984), and State v. O’Key, 321 Or 285, 899 P2d 663 (1995). At trial, over defendant’s objection on foundation grounds, the trial court permitted the state’s expert to testify that delay in reporting is a predominant feature in a child’s disclosure of sexual abuse. Defendant was…