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expert witness--Robert A. Geffner of San Diego Ca

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November 19, 2003, 08:20
Randal Lee
expert witness--Robert A. Geffner of San Diego Ca
I have a murder trial the week of December 1st. Apparently the defense will be "abused Wife Sybdrome" which I guess is an updated version of Battered Wife Sydrome. Their expert is Robert Geffner. Anyone have any info on him.
Also Id like any advice on meeting that defense. I just got notice of the defense
November 20, 2003, 07:44
Richard Alpert
Randal,

I contacted an expert I have worked with out of California and here is what he had to offer about your expert:
Never heard of the "Abused Wife Syndrome," although I have literature and am
familiar with the "Battered Wife Syndrome," coined by Lenore Walker. Search
Medline and found no scholarly articles written by Robert Geffner. Amazon.com
shows these books written by him on domestic violence.:

http://www.allbookstores.com/browse/Author/Geffner,%20Robert

He is also the editor of some journals and founded "The Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute":
http://www.fvsai.org/about.html http://www.fvsai.org/journals.html

From: http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/Research/PAS/PAS1/pas1.html

The American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence
And The Family (1996) states that no data exist to support PAS.

An article published in American Psychological Association's APA Monitor quotes Robert Geffner, Ph.D., a San Diego psychologist and expert on family violence issues:
While psychologists agree that some parents resort to such behavior, parental alienation syndrome is not a valid diagnosis and shouldn't be admitted into child custody cases (Sleek, 1998).

[This message was edited by Richard Alpert on 11-20-03 at .]
November 20, 2003, 10:02
Randal Lee
Thanks
Apparently He is a legitimate "expert". It appears the sydrome is akin to post tramatic stress syndrome. I am now trying to shift gears and figure out how to meet the defense. So far I have not found any evidence that she was abused. she has the worst reputation of the two.
sounds like a he deserved killing defense