Expert Witness
Dr. Hatcher testified as an expert witness in the case, People v. Gregory Scott Smith in which he characterized the defendant as a "sadistic pedophile" during the sentencing phase of a death penalty case. He described the common characteristics of persons who commit abductions similar to this case, explaining that they are living out a fantasy regarding the rape and molestation of children, and that the components of the fantasy include "forcible sodomy, strangulation, and disfigurement of the victim’s body", all acts committed by Smith. This testimony was controversial because Dr. Hatcher did not evaluate or interview the defendant but came to his conclusions solely on "profile evidence". Also, Dr. Hatcher's testimony was characterized as an improper attempt by the prosecution to sway the jury toward a death sentence on the grounds of extreme mental illness, contrary to law and precedent.
He also testified at the trial of Cameron Hooker who was accused of eight counts of kidnapping, rape and associated offenses, after kidnapping his victim and keeping her prisoner for seven years. One of Hooker's defenses was that the victim consented to stay with him and a well known expert witness testified the victim's behavior indicates she did not want to escape. In a battle of expert witnesses at Hooker's trial, Dr. Hatcher explained the victim's seemingly compliant and apathetic behavior, counteracting the defense expert's portrayal of the victim as willingly complying with Hooker's demands. Unlike the defense expert witness, Hatcher extensively interviewed the victim and was prepared to testify how each element in Hooker's treatment of the victim was capable of coercing an individual into compliant behavior. He went through each of the hypothetical facts in the case—kidnapping, hanging, whipping, being locked in a box, starvation and sensory deprivation, describing each of them as coercive techniques used by sadistic persons to control another human being. He said such a continued pattern of physical and sexual abuse would coerce most people into giving up resistance. Hatcher's testimony was essential in explaining to the jury how the victim could seem to be compliant. After the verdict was rendered and Hooker was convicted of seven of the eight counts, the judge commended the jury for their "intelligence" in accepting Dr. Hatcher's testimony rather than that of the defense expert.
Dr. Hatcher was awarded a Diplomate in Police Psychology by the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology (SPCP), the board certification in this specialty area of applied psychology.
Read more about this topic: Chris Hatcher (psychologist)
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