994 So. 2d 1000 - Williamson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 20 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “I concur with the majority opinion in all parts except that I would reverse and remand for a new trial rather than an evidentiary hearing. The decision as to guilt in this case was essentially a decision as to the credibility of Mr. Panoyan. I conclude that the admission of the testimony of Dr. Ofshe was error and that the error was prejudicial because Dr. Ofshe’s testimony improperly bolstered the credibility of Mr. Panoyan. I concur that counsel was ineffective for not requesting a Frye hearing before Dr. Ofshe was allowed to express his opinion to the jury. However, my analysis goes one step further. I would hold that Dr. Ofshe’s opinion testimony was sufficiently similar to the profile and syndrome testimony we found to be inadmissible in Flanagan v. State, 625 So.2d 827 (Fla.1993), and Hadden v. State, 690 So.2d 573 (Fla.1997), that the opinion testimony should have been held inadmissible under Frye. I specifically point to Dr. Ofshe’s stated methodology of reaching his conclusions by comparing Mr. Panoyan’s history and the “pattern he displays with the pattern of someone who has been terrorized.” In Hadden , we held that the appropriate standard of review of the Frye issue is de novo. I would here make the decision that Dr. Ofshe’s testimony was not generally accepted in the relevant field. I believe that the relevant field would be psychology. Dr. Ofshe’s opinion was found to lack acceptance in the relevant scientific community in United States v. Fishman, 743 F.Supp. ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 123 So. 3d 1060 - Williamson v. State

2. “In his third claim, Williamson asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to question Panoyan as to a prior contradictory statement Panoyan initially gave to police officers when Panoyan told them that he never saw the assailant without his mask and could not determine even the assailant’s race. The postconviction court denied relief as follows: Having reviewed the record, this Court agrees with the State that Capital Collateral Counsel initially mis-characterized Panoyan’s November 1988 statements. Additionally, the jury was informed that Panoyan failed to identify the Defendant or his brother in Panoyan’s initial statement to the police that evening, even though Panoyan provided an account of what happened at the Decker home. However, he gave inaccurate information as to the identity of the assailant. On direct examination, the State elicited from Panoyan that because he was afraid, he gave an inaccurate description to the police because of what he saw at the Decker home that evening and what Dana Williamson said he would do to Panoyan’s family. The record also reflects that defense counsel attacked Panoyan’s credibility from the onset of the trial, starting with his opening statement arguing that “Panoyan was going to come in and tell the jury ‘one hell of a story’ to avoid the electric chair.” Furthermore, defense counsel also reminded the jury that Panoyan was an original co-defendant in the case who never identified the Williamsons until three years after”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 123 So. 3d 1060 - Williamson v. State

3. “Q. [The State] But did you have the opportunity to discern any kind of control or influence that had been exercised by Dana Williamson according to the attestation of Charles Panoyan, which degrees or kinds of control you recognized? A. [Dr. Ofshe] Yes. [[Image here]] Well, in reviewing the history of Mr. Panoyan’s experience in connection with the invasion and death and the assaults at the Decker residence, and over the course of the investigation that followed, including his incarceration and ultimate decision to speak about what happened, the pattern that he displays is a pattern of someone who has, for one [sic] of a better word, been terrorized, and someone who is acting in response to a credible threat, not only to himself, but also, and to some degree, more importantly, to members of his family. And that the manner in which he responds at various points indicates quite clearly that he has a great concern about something happening to his family .... [[Image here]] The point at which he chose to do certain things reflects the kind of threat and fear he was acting under, and the particular decisions that he made to me are completely consistent with what he says about the sort of threats that he was exposed to.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 210 So. 3d 1160 - Tavares David Calloway v. State of Florida