Sattiewhite v. State

The issue in Sattiewhite v. State, 786 S.W.2d 271 (Tex. Crim. App. 1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 881 (1990) was whether certain testimony was admissible under the Texas Rules of Evidence. The Court held that an expert witness could not testify on the matter of what punishment should be assessed. To do so would violate Texas Rule of Evidence 702 because the expert in that case was not shown to be qualified to testify and because the subject was not one upon which the aid of an expert's opinion would be of assistance to the jury. Our analysis in Sattiewhite, then, focused specifically on the unsuitability of expert testimony on the issue of appropriate punishment. The Court concluded that such testimony would escalate into a "battle of the experts." Sattiewhite does not address, even peripherally, the propriety of including in a PSI the opinion of the crime victim.