District Court of Appeal of Florida

Expert testimony is not an absolute necessity in proving mental deficiency. As long as there is competent and substantial evidence from which a jury may conclude the victim is mentally deficient, such that she or he is incapable of "consent," the matter is a question to be resolved by the jury. In a sexual battery and attempted sexual battery against a mentally defective victim case, denial of a motion for acquittal is affirmed over a claim that the state did not present expert testimony that the victim was mentally incompetent.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/20/2006
• Published 09/20/2006

Judges

• POLEN, J.

Court

• District Court of Appeal of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Elisabeth Porter, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Heidi L. Bettendorf, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.