Landis v. Commonwealth

Convicted by a jury of maliciously wounding his infant daughter,, the defendant, Lewis J. Landis, was sentenced in accordance with the jury’s verdict to a term of 15 years in the penitentiary. The defendant seeks reversal, contending that the trial court erred in excluding from evidence the proffered expert opinion of a psychologist called as a witness by the defense.

The witness in question, Philip Stover, was director of counseling and testing and assistant professor of psychology at Liberty Baptist College in Lynchburg, where the defendant was a student. Stover had counseled the defendant…