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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 424 Filed 11/08/21 Page 30 of 41
2. “[Hlow memory becomes more vulnerable to contamination.”
3. “[T]he mechanism by which false and/or distorted memories can be created as a result
of post-event information and occurrences, suggestion, influence or the like.”
4. “(T]he effects of suggestion on memory,” including how “[s]uggestive activities can
explain how it is that a person might go from having no memory of sexual abuse, and even denying
sexual abuse, to later having [memories] for numerous abusive acts, if the memories are false.”
5. “[T] he characteristics of false and/or distorted memories” . . . “[i]n particular,” that:
a. Such memories “can be described with confidence, detail and emotion,
even when they are false”; and
b. “[P]eople come to believe in these experiences and are not deliberately
lying.”
6. “[Identification of] some of the suggestive activities that occurred in the current
case,” including “media coverage and other publications (including but not limited to newspaper
and magazine articles, news reports, television shows, documentaries, books, podcasts, websites,
etc.) and discussions/conversations with others, can be sources of suggestion.”
7. “[H]ow, in a case like this one, suggestion can lead individuals to the construction of
distorted memories.”
(Ex. A at 1-2 (emphasis added)). As set forth below, the Government objects that some of these
opinions (paragraphs 1, 2, 5(b), and 6) are commonsense principles within the ken of the jury;
some (paragraphs 5(a) and 5(b)) invade the province of the jury in assessing witness credibility
and demeanor; some (paragraphs 6 and 7) are vehicles to insert factual narrative about the case;
and some (paragraph 3) are unreliable and lack fit with the case.
B. Applicable Law
As a general matter, memory, perception, and the fallibility of human recall—that is, how
people may remember, misremember, or forget past events—are within the ken of the jury. See
United States v. Carter, 410 F.3d 942, 950 (7th Cir. 2005) (“In general . . . jurors understand that
memory can be less than perfect.”); United States v. Smith, 148 F. App’x 867, 872 (11th Cir. 2005)
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Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00006241.jpg |
| File Size | 743.6 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 92.9% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,206 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:08:47.119479 |