State of Connecticut v. Fernando v.

Summary

The court affirmed the Appellate Court's reversal of the defendant's convictions because the state failed to preserve its argument that the excluded testimony was cumulative, leaving the determination that the testimony was improperly excluded effectively unchallenged. The court also held that excluding the testimony was not harmless because it could have materially assisted the jury in evaluating the complainant's credibility in a case lacking physical evidence or eyewitnesses. The court concluded that the excluded testimony would have provided new and potentially conflicting evidence concerning behavioral symptoms of sexual assault.