Adriana Flores gave a defense proffer as a forensic-psychology expert about psychological testing and malingering screeners. The court allowed the proffer but did not permit her testimony before the jury.
Expert witness
Adriana Flores
Clinical psychologist qualified as an expert in forensic psychology.
Appeared2019 Murder Trial
79 lines·7 proceedings·5 mentions
About
Adriana Flores was offered by the defense as a forensic-psychology expert to address psychological testing and conclusions associated with Dr. Kimberly Kruse. The court ruled that, because Flores was not on the witness list, she could not testify before the jury, but it allowed the defense to preserve her testimony through a proffer.
On Day 30, Flores testified in the proffer that the SIMS and M-FAST were screening tools and did not provide enough information to determine that Timothy Jones was malingering. She said her review changed the M-FAST score from eight to four and that incomplete SIRS responses prevented her from determining whether that measure had been accurately scored. The court limited testimony characterizing Dr. Kruse's work as misscoring, while allowing Flores to offer an independent opinion from the raw data.
On cross-examination, Flores said neuropsychological testing was outside her expertise and that she had not reviewed the neuropsychological data or Dr. Tora Brawley's report. She explained that she reentered scores after concluding that the defense had not received the complete PAI report, and she described contacting Dr. Kruse as the first step required by ethical regulations.
The court later accepted the proffer and marked the related materials as Court's Exhibits, but denied the defense request to present Flores's testimony to the jury.
Key Points
Flores testified that the SIMS and M-FAST were screening tools and that the discussed measures could not retrospectively establish malingering from symptoms reported long before. [1]
Her review changed the M-FAST score from eight to four, and she said incomplete SIRS responses prevented her from determining whether it had been accurately scored. [1]
The court excluded Flores from live jury testimony because she was not on the witness list, but allowed and preserved a proffer; it later denied presenting that proffer to the jury. [1][2]
Trial Record (7)
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