State of Iowa v. Pat Grant Kepner

Summary

The Iowa Supreme Court held that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding the defendant’s expert testimony on eyewitness identification, reversed the convictions, and remanded for a new trial. The Court reasoned that generalized scientific testimony about memory and identification procedures is admissible under Iowa Rule of Evidence 5.702 and that the exclusion was prejudicial given the centrality of the eyewitness identifications. The decision was unanimous except for a dissenting opinion.