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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 499 Filed 11/23/21 Page9of28
intent to Ms. Maxwell. Cf Fed. R. Evid. 704 (“In a criminal case, an expert witness must not
state an opinion about whether the defendant did or did not have a mental state or condition that
constitutes an element of the crime charged or of a defense.”). Those are questions for the jury.
Id. But the very purpose of Dr. Dietz’s testimony on this point is to caution the jury about
improperly inferring motive and intent from Dr. Rocchio’s unreliable opinions because, as even
Dr. Rocchio recognized in her testimony, behavior cannot be called “grooming” if it is not in
furtherance of “attempted sexual abuse or actual sexual abuse or exploitation.” Ex. 2, p 118:22-
14.
Accordingly, if Dr. Dietz’s opinions about Dr. Rocchio’s conclusions are reliable—as the
government does not dispute they are—“Daubert neither requires nor empowers trial courts to
determine which of several competing scientific theories has the best provenance.” Fed. R. Evid.
702, Advisory Committee Notes, 2000 Amendments (quoting Ruiz-Troche v. Pepsi Cola, 161
F.3d 77, 85 (1st Cir. 1998)). A court must admit competing expert opinions that are reliable and
relevant, and then it’s for the jury to decide which expert is correct. /d. (“[P]roponents ‘do not
have to demonstrate to the judge by a preponderance of the evidence that the assessments of their
experts are correct, they only have to demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence that their
opinions are reliable. . . . The evidentiary requirement of reliability is lower than the merits
standard of correctness’” (quoting Jn re Paoli R.R. Yard PCB Litigation, 35 F.3d 717, 744 (3d
Cir. 1994)).
As for informing the jury that “Dr. Rocchio’s proposed testimony is silent as to whether
she is expected to impute a theory of ‘grooming-by-proxy’ to the defendant” and that “Ms.
7 It’s not clear that Dr. Rocchio will be permitted to testify on this subject, as this Court
has precluded her from opining that the presence of a third party can facilitate grooming. (Dkt.
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| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00007474.jpg |
| File Size | 702.2 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 93.4% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,081 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:23:43.319077 |