Wells

A jury found Travis Wells guilty of several sex offenses against two minors, and, as a “Three Strikes” defendant, he was sentenced to a total of 280 years to life imprisonment. Among other arguments in this appeal, appellant claims the trial court erred in excluding testimony by a defense expert witness regarding the “usual” reactions of trauma victims, which was offered to show the demeanor of one of the minors was inconsistent with having been, molested. We reject this argument and conclude appellant’s other claims do not establish reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND

I. Prosecution Case

A. Background

Nanette Francois and Jerry Wells began living together in 1988 and had a daughter, J., in October of that year. The couple stopped living together in 1992. In April 1995, Francois had a second daughter, M., with a different man. That same year, Francois began serving a federal prison sentence for drug trafficking. She left J. to live with a family friend, while M. stayed with her grandmother. In 1996, while Francois was still in prison, Jerry Wells successfully obtained a court order granting him custody of J. He immediately brought J. to…

I join in the decision of the majority, but on a much narrower basis than set out in part I of the Discussion in the majority opinion.

Defendant’s expert, Dr. Diane Sullivan Eversteine, was prohibited from testifying that victims of child sexual abuse usually display certain signs of trauma that defendant argued were not apparent in the videotaped interview of the alleged victim, J., and which therefore tended to show that J. had not been molested as the prosecution claimed.* 1 Although the trial court initially *192 indicated that such testimony would be permitted, the court reconsidered and would not allow the defense to ask the expert how trauma is usually manifested. According to the trial judge, “What’s usual? There’s nothing usual. Everybody acts differently.” The judge permitted the expert to testify to “what manifestations occur . . . but not usual. I don’t see that as relevant. I don’t see the probative value.” From People v. Bledsoe (1984) 36 Cal.3d 236 [ 203 Cal.Rptr. 450 , 681 P.2d 291 ] (Bledsoe), the trial court drew the conclusion, as does the majority, that since “common themes and theories of the average rape victim” cannot be used to establish that the alleged…

Certified For Partial Publication. [*]

A jury found Travis Wells guilty of several sex offenses against two minors, and, as a "Three Strikes" defendant, he was sentenced to a total of 280 years to life imprisonment. Among other arguments in this appeal, appellant claims the trial court erred in excluding testimony by a defense expert witness regarding the "usual" reactions of trauma victims, which was offered to show the demeanor of one of the minors was inconsistent with having been molested. We reject this argument and conclude appellant's other claims do not establish reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

Nanette Francois and Jerry Wells began living together in 1988 and had a daughter, J., in October of that year. The couple stopped living together in 1992. In April 1995, Francois had a second daughter, M., with a different man. That same year, Francois began serving a federal prison sentence for drug trafficking. She left J. to live with a family friend, while M. stayed with her grandmother. In 1996, while Francois was still in prison, Jerry Wells successfully obtained a court order granting him custody of J. He immediately brought J. to live…