{"id":1192,"date":"2021-04-20T12:59:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T16:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2022-10-04T13:43:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T17:43:05","slug":"michigan-rape-conviction-reversed-due-to-improper-vouching-by-prosecution-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-conviction-reversed-due-to-improper-vouching-by-prosecution-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Rape Conviction Reversed due to Improper Vouching by Prosecution Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A recent Michigan Court of Appeals panel reversed a conviction for Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree, commonly called rape, due to improper witness vouching. The case involved three expert witnesses, all of whom testified for the government.\u00a0 In different and sometimes subtle ways, each expert made improper statements about the complaining witnesses (CW) credibility that amounted to their \u201cvouching\u201d for the CW\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n<p>According to the standard jury instructions utilized in Michigan sex crimes cases it is up to the jury to judge and weigh a witness\u2019s credibility.\u00a0 In reaching this determination, the jury will be instructed to consider a variety of factors including how well the witness was able to see and hear things and was there anything that might have distracted them; how good is their memory; how do they look and act while testifying and do they seem to be telling the truth or are they trying to evade answering and arguing with the lawyers, do they have any personal interest in how the case is decided, and how reasonable is their testimony when compared with all of the other evidence in the case. See M Crim JI 2.6.<\/p>\n<p>Notice that \u201cwhat do other people think about the witness\u2019s credibility\u201d is not among the factors for the jury to consider.\u00a0 Vouching is improper therefore because it \u201cinvades the province\u201d of the jury by substituting someone else\u2019s opinion for the jury\u2019s collective determination.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-conviction-reversed-due-to-improper-vouching-by-prosecution-experts\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Michigan Rape Conviction Reversed due to Improper Vouching by Prosecution Experts\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent Michigan Court of Appeals panel reversed a conviction for Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree, commonly called rape, due to improper witness vouching. The case involved three expert witnesses, all of whom testified for the government.\u00a0 In different and sometimes subtle ways, each expert made improper statements about the complaining witnesses (CW) credibility that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,9,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-evidence","category-law-enforcement","category-sex-crimes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Michigan Rape Conviction Reversed due to Improper Vouching by Prosecution Experts &#8212; Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; April 20, 2021<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent Michigan Court of Appeals panel reversed a conviction for Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree, commonly called rape, due to improper witness &#8212; April 20, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-conviction-reversed-due-to-improper-vouching-by-prosecution-experts\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Michigan Rape Conviction Reversed due to Improper Vouching by Prosecution Experts &#8212; Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; April 20, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"A recent Michigan Court of Appeals panel reversed a conviction for Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree, commonly called rape, due to improper witness &#8212; April 20, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick Barone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michigan Rape Conviction Reversed due to Improper Vouching by Prosecution Experts &#8212; 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