State v. Lash

The opinion of the court was delivered by This is an appeal by the State on a question reserved following
the defendant's acquittal by a jury on a charge of aggravated
indecent liberties with a child (K.S.A. 1983 Supp. 21-3504). The
defendant was charged with sexually molesting his
fifteen-year-old son. The son maintained that this had happened
on 20 or more separate occasions, the most recent being on
January 19, 1984. The county attorney, as part of the pretrial investigation, had
the alleged victim interviewed and tested by Dr. Les Ruthven, a
Kansas Board Certified Psychologist from Wichita. Dr. Ruthven
conducted a series of tests and interviews with the son. Dr.
Ruthven's purpose in interviewing the son was to evaluate whether
he was telling the truth about sexual molestation by his father.
At the trial, Dr. Ruthven, having been qualified as an expert
witness, was asked by the county attorney for his opinion based
on the results of his testing and interviewing the son as to
whether the son had been sexually molested by his father. The
court, after an objection by defendant's counsel, would only
permit Dr. Ruthven to testify as to whether he had an opinion as
to whether the son had been sexually molested. The court ruled
that the expert could not testify as to whether the son had been [237 Kan. 385]