People v. Bledsoe

Opinion

KAUS, J.

Defendant William McKee Bledsoe appeals from a conviction of forcible rape. (Pen. Code, § 261, subd. (2).) The principal issue on appeal is the propriety of the trial court’s admission of expert testimony by a rape counselor that, after the incident in question, the alleged victim suffered from “rape trauma syndrome.” As we explain, although in a rape prosecution expert testimony on the after effects of rape may be admitted for a variety of purposes, we conclude that the evidence in this case was not admissible for the purpose for which it was offered—namely, to prove that a…