The UCMJ Rules for Courts-Martial specifically allows defense counsel to seek the services of an expert assistant to help prepare for trial and to call expert witnesses during trial under certain circumstances. R.C.M. 703(d). Consequently, defense attorneys in military courts routinely call upon forensic psychological experts to assist in defending their clients, particularly in more complex cases involving Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, military sexual assault, memory and substance intoxication/blackouts, domestic violence, child abuse, child pornography, and even homicide cases. The Government also often calls upon forensic psychological experts.
Dr. Leporowski serves as a consultant and expert witness for military court proceedings. She has never failed to qualify as an expert. She has consulted and in some cases testified regarding various types of cases and has served as an expert forensic psychological consultant for both government and defense trial counsel both in the U.S. and overseas.
Dr. Leporowski’s consultation and testimony topics in military courts martial have included but are not limited to:
- Alcohol blackout/pass out, memory and confabulation
- Assessment of personality disorders
- False and coerced confessions
- Claims of traumatic amnesia and recovered memories
- Behaviors of adult and child victims in sexual and non-sexual offenses
- Child abuse and related issues of memory development, suggestibility
- Possession of child pornography and perpetrator characteristics and risk assessment
- Compulsive online sexual behavior
- Competency to stand trial
- Nature and reliability of memory
- Intimate partner violence
- Sexual deviancy and paraphilic disorders
- Sexual violence risk assessment
- Violence risk assessment
- Sentencing
Dr. Leporowski’s years of experience in the clinical setting of Veterans Administration medical centers assessing and treating veterans brings invaluable experience in understanding psychological issues in order to assist defense or Government counsel. With 30 years of extensive experience and testifying as a forensic psychological expert in over 350 cases, Dr. Leporowski’s expertise is often sought in order to explain even difficult psychological concepts to judges and or panel members because of her ability to clearly explain complex matters. Dr. Leporowski assists in all phases of military courts martial through to sentencing, including providing aggravating or mitigating factors testimony.