State v. Kelly

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

WILENTZ, C.J.

The central issue before us is whether expert testimony about the battered-woman’s syndrome is admissible to help establish a claim of self-defense in a homicide ease. The question is one of first impression in this state. We hold, based on the limited record before us (the State not having had a full opportunity to prove the contrary), that the battered-woman’s syndrome is an appropriate subject for expert testimony; that the experts’ conclusions, despite the relative newness of the field, are sufficiently reliable under New Jersey’s…