Does anyone have any information on a Holly Randall, mitigation specialist, Martinsville, Tx. She may be called by the defense in a capital murder trial here. Please call me at (936)291-2369 ext. 3 or e-mail me at kelly_weeks@hotmail.com

[This message was edited by Admin on 01-06-04 at .]

[This message was edited by Admin on 01-07-04 at .]

How is it that someone can just make up a field of "expertise" and designate themselves an "expert" in that field?

And how do they get past the Rules of Evidence? Surely, a "mitigation expert" can't invent their own title and then use it to bypass the hearsay rules that prevent admission of unreliable evidence.

I had the pleasure of cross-examining one of these animals once upon a time and let me tell you, it was unlike anything I've ever encountered before or since. It's like trying to cross-examine dozens of people all at once. My so-called "mitigation expert" was a master's level sociologist from North Carolina whose sole purpose, as far as I could tell, was to dig up as much dirty laundery regarding the defendant's family as she could to show what an unfortunate, dysfunctional upbringing my poor defendant had. Talk about a pity party. Bottom line, she didn't have personal knowledge of anything she was testifying to and most, if not all, of her testimony was nothing more than rank hearsay. Of course, she never talked to the surviving family of the victim, any of the state's witnesses, law enforcement and prison officials, etc.. My judge was pretty good about not letting a bunch of this crap in but some of it still was admitted under the auspices of "expert" testimony. An effective cross, however, will expose these folks to what they really are--prostitutes--and they probably do more harm to the defendant's case in the eyes of the jury than than they help.