§ 45.02 MANDATORY STIPULATIONS

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 45.02. MANDATORY STIPULATIONS

Opposing counsel sometimes offers to stipulate to the qualifications of an expert. These offers are often rejected because the stipulation deprives the jury of information that makes the expert's opinion more persuasive. In State v. Colwell,⁷ the trial court required the defense counsel to accept the prosecution's offer to stipulate to the qualifications of a defense pathologist. Consequently, the jury was deprived of learning the credentials of the expert, who had a "national reputation" in the field of forensic pathology. In contrast, eleven pages of the transcript were needed to record the qualifications of the prosecution's expert. The Kansas Supreme Court reversed:

We conclude that an offer by the State to stipulate to the qualifications of an expert witness called by the defendant is merely an offer unless accepted by the defendant. Absent such acceptance, the defendant has the right to present the witness' qualifications to the jury.⁸

However, as discussed in chapter 9, a prosecutor's failure to accept a stipulation may in some cases result in the exclusion of the evidence under Rule 403.⁹

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Notes:

^[7] 790 P.2d 430 (Kan. 1990).

^[8] Id. at 434.

^[9] See Old Chief v. United States, 519...