People v. Guerra

Opinion

MOSK, J.

In People v. Shirley (1982) 31 Cal.3d 18, 66-67 [181 Cal.Rptr. 243, 641 P.2d 775], we held that the use of hypnosis to restore or improve the memory of a potential witness is not accepted as a reliable procedure by a consensus of the relevant scientific community, and hence the testimony of such a witness is inadmissible as to all matters that were the subject of the hypnotic session. In the present case we address the question, left open in Shirley (id. at p. 67, fin. 53), whether the rule of that decision applies to witnesses who were hypnotized before its date (Mar. 11,…