William Kutzly, Petitioner v. the People of the State of Colorado, Respondent.

Summary

The court affirmed the court of appeals' decision upholding the admission of a social worker's experience-based expert testimony about behaviors associated with child sexual abuse victims and adult sex offenders. It held that the trial court made sufficiently specific findings concerning relevance, reliability, and unfair prejudice, and did not abuse its discretion in finding the testimony reasonably reliable under CRE 702 without requiring statistical support or a full pretrial evidentiary hearing. The opinion also explains that challenges concerning the certainty of the witness's underlying cases and the absence of supporting studies generally affected the weight of the testimony rather than its admissibility.