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Filed: November 29, 2012
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON
STATE OF OREGON, Respondent on Review,
v. LUIS SANCHEZ-ALFONSO, Petitioner on Review.
(CC C051693CR; CA A135246; SC S059458) En Banc On review of the Court of Appeals.* Argued and submitted June 12, 2012. Bronson D. James, JDL Attorneys, LLP, Portland, argued the cause and filed the
brief for petitioner on review. Anna Joyce, Solicitor General, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for
respondent on review.  With her on the brief was John R. Kroger, Attorney General. WALTERS, J. The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed.  The judgment of the circuit
court is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings. *Appeal from Washington County Court, Suzanne Upton, Judge. 238 Or App 160, 241 P3d 1194 (2010).
WALTERS, J.
2  In this criminal case, we consider whether a physician's conclusion that  
3  defendant physically had abused a child met the requirements for admissibility of  
4  scientific evidence. We hold that it did not, that the trial court erred in admitting the  
5  evidence, and that the error was not harmless.  Consequently, we reverse defendant's  
6  convictions and remand for further proceedings.  
7  The child in this case, C, was approximately 18 months old when he arrived  
8  at the emergency room with multiple injuries, including a golf-ball-sized lump on his  
9  forehead and a fractured skull.  The state accused defendant of causing C's injuries and  
10  charged him with two counts of criminal mistreatment and first-and third-degree assault.  
11  To prove first-degree assault, the state had to show that defendant had caused C "serious  
12 13  physical injury," defined as injury that "creates a substantial risk of death." ORS 163.185,1 ORS 161.015.2  
14  At trial, defendant acknowledged that he had caused C's forehead injury but  
15  claimed that he had done so accidentally and that that injury had not created a  
16  "substantial risk of death."  As to C's more serious injury --the skull fracture --defendant  
1 ORS 163.185 provides, in part: "(1) A person commits the crime of assault in the first degree if the person:  
"(a) Intentionally causes serious physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon[.]" 2 ORS 161.015(8) provides, in part: "'Serious physical injury' means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death[.]"  

asserted that it was not he, but C's aunt, who was the responsible actor.
2 The state called a physician employed by CARES Northwest, a child abuse 3 assessment center, as one of its witnesses. Over defendant's OEC 7023 and OEC 4034 4 objections, the trial court admitted the physician's testimony and her written report 5 diagnosing C as victim of child abuse and concluding that "[defendant] clearly caused 6 [C's] injuries" and that "[C] was physically abused by [defendant]." The jury convicted 7 defendant of third-degree assault and two counts of criminal mistreatment.  The jury 8 acquitted defendant on the charge of first-degree assault, but found him guilty of the 9 lesser-included offense of second-degree assault.  Like first-degree assault, second

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