I am a psychologist licensed in the State of California and the President of Hawthorne Community Medical Group. I received my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology with Honors from the University of California at Los Angeles and went on to receive my Doctorate in Psychology from UCLA in 1966.
Prior to receiving my Doctorate, I had been awarded a U.S. Public Health Fellowship, and upon receiving my Doctorate, I was offered several faculty appointments, including positions at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Texas. I accepted a position at Harvard University and was appointed to the faculty with concurrent appointments in the Departments of Psychology, Social Relations, and General Education. Prior to receiving my Doctorate, and since, I have had several original experimental studies accepted for publication in the psychological journals.
I served on the faculty at Harvard University for five years, during which time I received additional grants and awards from, among others, the National Science Foundation, The National Institutes of Mental Health, The Department of Defense, the Advanced Research Projects Administration, and Harvard University.
In 1971, I was appointed to the faculty of the Claremont Colleges. While at the Colleges, I received additional grants and awards for research projects from various governmental funding sources as well as from the Claremont Colleges.
At Harvard, the Claremont Colleges, and UCLA, I originated and taught courses in many areas of psychology including those dealing with observation, perception, memory, recall, the effects of stress, and other factors such as cross-racial issues which are relevant to the accuracy of eyewitness identification.
For five years, I served as a screening psychologist for a police department, and since 1974 I have consulted with attorneys, and testified as an expert witness in eyewitness identification in over 250 Superior and Federal court criminal trials in numerous states. I have addressed Bar Associations throughout the West Coast including the California State Bar Association, and the California Trial Lawyers Association; and have worked with attorneys on several post conviction appeals.
In the case of People v. MacDonald (1984) 37 Cal.3d 351, 208 Cal.Rptr. 236, 690 P.2d 709, 46 A.L.R.4th 1011, the California Supreme Court unanimously held that it was error for the trial court to have excluded Dr. Shomer's testimony because "when eyewitness identification of the defendant is a key element of the prosecution's case but is not substantially corroborated by evidence giving it independent reliability, and the defendant offers qualified expert testimony on specific psychological factors shown by the record that could have affected the accuracy of the identification but are not likely to be fully known to or understood by the jury, it will ordinarily be error to exclude that testimony."
CALJIC 2.92 list the factors for a jury to consider in proving identity by eye witness testimony.