Corbett signs bill letting experts testify in sex-assault trials

PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

July 03, 2012|By Michael Macagnone, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

HARRISBURG – Psychologists and doctors will, for the first time, be able to testify in Pennsylvania courtrooms as experts on sexual assault victims’ behavior.

Gov. Corbett on Tuesday signed a bill allowing such testimony in criminal trials, saying momentum for the new law grew out of the publicity surrounding the child sexual-abuse case against former assistant Pennsylvania State University football coach Jerry Sandusky and the prosecutions of several Philadelphia-area Catholic priests.

“If there is a positive side to what happened, this [bill] is one of the positives

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