Hearst

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTIONS TO BAR DEFENDANT’S PROFFERED PSYCHIATRIC TESTIMONY AND MOTION TO STRIKE EXPERT TESTIMONY

The Government has filed extensive points and authorities in support of its motion to bar the introduction of testimony by expert witnesses on the defendant’s mental state at the time of the bank robbery for which she is now on trial. While the Court has no quarrel with the basic tenet of the decisions cited, it does not find them applicable to the case at hand.

In large part, the Government’s argument is that since in this Circuit the crime of bank robbery, as defined in the applicable federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a), has been held not to require proof of a specific, but only a general, intent, United States v. Hartfield, 513 F.2d 254, 259 (9th Cir. 1975); United States v. Porter, 431 F.2d 7 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 960 , 91 S.Ct. 360 , 27 L.Ed.2d 269 (1970), expert testimony offered to show that the defendant acted with a reduced mental capacity is irrelevant to any triable issue and therefore inadmissible. Without disputing the soundness of the premise on which this argument rests, the Court will simply point out that in…