State v. Black

Quaere: May the State, in a rape case, offer expert testimony on "rape trauma syndrome" to prove that the alleged victim did not consent to sex with the alleged assailant?

*338The trial court held such evidence admissible, and the defendant was convicted of third degree rape. The Court of Appeals reversed. We hold that expert testimony on rape trauma syndrome is inadmissible because it lacks scientific reliability and unfairly prejudices a defendant accused of rape. We affirm the Court of Appeals and remand for a new trial.

The conviction arose from an incident in August 1984 involving the…