People v. Tunstall

OPINION OF THE COURT

Jasen, J.

The critical issue presented is whether a pretrial hearing must be held to determine whether a defendant’s ability to cross-examine a prosecution witness has been unduly impaired as a result of that witness’s having been hypnotized in an effort to learn additional details of the crime even though the hypnotic process did not lead to the discovery of any significant new facts and the witness’s testimony at trial mirrored statements which she had made prior to being hypnotized.

In the early morning hours of May 4,1979, a rape victim and her boyfriend were talking in…