That duty is part of the constitutional right to counsel, which guarantees not just representation by a warm body, but effective representation by a lawyer whose performance is objectively reasonable as measured by what competent attorneys would be expected to do. The CPS worker was not called as an expert witness.Ĭriminal defense attorneys have a duty to provide effective representation to their clients. After the defendant was convicted, his postconviction attorney argued that his trial attorney was ineffective when she failed to object to the CPS worker’s testimony. The issue arose in the context of a of a prosecution for multiple counts of sexual assault. Nor are courts always consistent in defining the testimony that experts can give when they discuss the “typical” behaviors of child abuse victims. Courts are not always clear about information concerning child behavior that most jurors will possess and that need not be the subject of expert testimony, and the kind of esoteric information that can only be provided by an expert witness. The line is one that courts have had trouble defining. The New Hampshire Supreme Court recently drew a line between expert and lay testimony given by a Child Protective Services (CPS) worker.
