Expert Witness Services

Why do you need an expert witness in the punishment phase of a criminal case?

The expert witness called in support of a defendant's case in punishment is focused on:

• explaining to and educating the decision-makers about factors that had a strong influence on the behaviors of the defendant which led to the commission of the crime(s);
• presenting the circumstances which serve to humanize and reduce the moral blameworthiness of the defendant (who will have been held accountable for the crime by the guilty verdict);
• affording the jury and the court the best opportunity to understand the defendant as a person outside of the brief time in which the offense was committed.

Mitigation Works!

Cases in which mitigating evidence and circumstances are thoroughly developed by qualified mitigation specialists are more likely to be resolved appropriately. As well, when the client's story is persuasively told by an expert witness in trial, sentences of life or life without parole are more likely to result following a conviction for capital murder.

As an example, data from the Alabama Prison Project's Mitigation Program, reflects that 70% of their capital cases were disposed of with less-than-death verdicts where mitigating evidence was persuasively presented.

Dr. Kate Allen, LCSW, has the expertise to identify the mitigating themes to support your punishment phase theories.

• She is a child development expert who understands the science that explains the results of child neglect and abuse and can apply it directly to the facts of a case.
• She is an expert in presenting social and cultural reasons for the defendant's behavior in ways which help juries identify with life experiences which very likely differ from their own.
• She has the professional demeanor juries respond positively to in the defense's effort to help jurors fully understand the client and his or her life experiences.

The areas of her training and experience which Dr. Allen most often utilizes in her testimony are:

• The role of alcohol-related neurological deficits begun in the prenatal period (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome)
• Troubled behavior and thinking ability resulting from failed attachment in the first 3 years of life (Attachment Disorders)
• Impairments in psychological and neurological development of the child who has been exposed to abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) and neglect (resulting in Posttraumatic Stress Disorders)
• The same developmental injuries of abuse and neglect arising from domestic violence (Child Abuse by Proxy)
• Diagnosis and critical analysis of the full range of diagnostic categories (DSM-IV-TR)

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Dr. Allen can help to explain a life that was
largely chosen by others, letting the jurors view the particular window
through which the defendant's world is seen, a world usually drastically different from that of the jury members.

Dr. Allen helps the jury to move past the "what" to explain the "so what,"
an explanation as to why the judge or jury should
care about the life experiences of the client.

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