Is a Hypnotically Induced Testimony Admissible In Court ?

In Way v. Dugger, 568 So. 2d 1263 (Fla. 1990), the court rejected Way's claim that the testimony of the surviving daughter, Tiffany, was unreliable because it was induced by hypnosis and that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to move to exclude it. The court first noted that subsequent to the trial in Way, we held in Bundy v. State, 471 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 1985), that hypnotically induced testimony is now per se inadmissible in the courts of Florida but that a hypnotized witness can "testify to all events other than the new matter discovered at the hypnotic session." Id. at 19. The court determined that because Bundy had not been decided at the time of Way's trial, counsel was not ineffective for failing to exclude Tiffany's testimony. See Way II, 568 So. 2d at 1265. In addition, we held that "the record does not demonstrate that Tiffany Way's testimony at trial was induced or refreshed by hypnosis." Id.