Newkirk v. Commonwealth

LAMBERT, Justice.

In an unbroken line of decisions rendered from time to time throughout the last decade, this Court has repeatedly expressed its distrust of expert testimony which purported to determine criminal conduct based on a per-*691eeived psychological syndrome.1 In general our reasons have been the lack of diagnostic reliability, the lack of general acceptance within the discipline from which such testimony emanates, and the overwhelmingly persuasive nature of such testimony effectively dominating the decision-making process, uniquely the function of the jury. In the instant case we must…