Trial Court Decision to Exclude Dr. Richard Ofshe's Testimony Upheld on Appeal

Written By: Reid
Aug 23, 2006
In the case of Staye v. Angel Torres, July 2006, the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County rejected Torres claim "that the trial court erred by excluding the testimony of interrogation expert, Dr. Richard Ofshe. The trial court excluded Dr. Ofshe's testimony based on the fact his opinion was irrelevant to the facts of the case. We agree. Dr. Ofshe specializes in determining the voluntariness of a confession. However, in the instant case, Torres did not claim his confession was involuntary, but claims he never gave a confession and that the detective fabricated his confession. Therefore, Dr. Ofshe's testimony as to whether the confession was voluntary was irrelevant. In fact, Dr. Ofshe even stated he had never previously testified whether a confession was fabricated by a detective."
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