Virginia: Special Cases – A Lawyer’s Expert (May 16, 2021)

On May 4, 2021, a split panel of the Court of Appeals of Virginia reversed and remanded for retrial a criminal conviction for Defendant having been precluded from introducing expert testimony. Specifically, Defendant was tried on multiple counts of computer solicitation of a minor, but prohibited from offering “expert testimony from a forensic psychologist who would have testified that, after conducting a psychological evaluation of appellant, he concluded appellant was not a pedophile.” The dissent concluded that any arguable error was insignificant and harmless given overwhelming evidence of guilt. The case is Kilpatrick v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2043-19-3.