Melbourne Law School - Research Publications

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    The strange case of Andrea Yates and Dr Park Dietz
    Park, M. M. (The Victorian Bar, 2008)
    Following the erroneous testimony of a celebrated expert witness, a mentally disturbed mother was convicted of murdering her five children. The witness’s evidence was the foundation for an inference that the defendant had concocted an insanity defence based upon a popular television drama series episode. In fact the expert had “falsely remembered” a non-existent episode of the series. The conviction was reversed upon appeal on the sole ground of the witness’s erroneous testimony. Upon re-trial, the defendant was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
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