Domestic Violence Expert Witnesses: 5

Charles H. Heller, PhD, is a Forensic Psychology Expert with over 35 years of experience in his field. Dr. Heller is currently on staff at Rutgers University Biomedical Health Service, specializing in criminal behavior and risk assessment. He also serves as a forensic psychologist consultant for the Rockland County (NY) court evaluation service, where he has performed hundreds of child custody, as well as criminal competency and child abuse/neglect evaluations.

Litigation Support - Dr. Heller specializes in conducting custody evaluations, providing the review and analysis of potentially mitigating circumstances in connection with criminal behavior, and providing consultation to attorneys regarding civil litigation. He has extensive court experience in Civil, Criminal, and Family Court cases. Dr. Heller is a fully vetted and approved forensic psychologist for the NJ Office of the Public Defender as well as other Public Defender offices. (Federal Public Defender, Legal Aid in Manhattan, Bronx, Kings, and the NYC assigned counsel program). He often travels throughout the US as a forensic consultant in important court cases including military Court Martials, death row assessment, sexual abuse, assault, and multiple homicides. He is well-known and respected among his colleagues as a clinician and as a forensic psychologist/expert witness.

Civil Litigation - (Emotional and Mental Injury) - Dr. Heller is retained by both plaintiff and defense counsel to assess plaintiffs for emotional and mental injury. He takes an unbiased, ethical approach to assessments and is not "a hired gun." He is an expert in objective evaluations that assess the probability the plaintiff is suffering PTSD, other emotional injuries, or if there is an exaggeration of symptoms based upon psychological testing and other data. He has expertise in cases that involve group home / residential schools, provider negligence, and assaults.

Criminal Litigation - Dr. Heller is experienced in providing successful rebuttal testimony explaining the scientific issues related to the problems of validity, reliability, and usefulness of "Syndrome evidence" such as "Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome" and "Rape Trauma Syndrome." He testifies in child sexual abuse cases and explains research related to false allegations, recantations, memory, suggestibility, child testimony, interview protocols, and "Believed-In Imaginings" in children and adults. He has expertise in domestic violence and has assessed women who have been victims of intimate partner violence and "Battered Women Syndrome" that contributed to homicides, assaults, and other felonies by the victims of abuse.

View Dr. Heller's Consulting Profile.

Jeffrey A. Sugar, MD has been a practicing Psychiatrist for over 20 years. Dr. Sugar is board certified both in Child and General Psychiatry. He is Past President of the Southern California Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Sugar  is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at USC, and has been an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. Dr. Sugar is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trauma Program at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA where he sees patients, teaches psychiatry, and performs research. He is Attending Psychiatrist in both Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry Outpatient Clinics at USC. He teaches child and general psychiatrists-in-training and medical students on topics ranging from Trauma, Adversity, and Dissociation to Psychotherapy theory and methods.

Dr. Sugar was the founding director of the Hathaway Children’s Clinical Research Institute where he performed funded research on the effects of interpersonal child trauma. Dr. Sugar has presented at national and international meetings on child and adolescent Trauma and Dissociation. Director, Child Psychiatry Trauma Program at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine .. Dr. Sugar has been worked with the legal industry since 1988. Qualified in Superior court, he has been retained over 40 times as an expert in a broad range of child and general psychiatric cases, for both Plaintiff and Defense. His services include:

• Consultation Regarding Psychiatric Injury, Diagnosis, Treatment
• Record Review and Opinion
• Psychiatric Interview and Mental Status Evaluation
• Expert testimony

Dr. Sugar's litigation support is available to attorneys for both Plaintiff and Defense. His Areas of Expertise include:

Professional Training:

• MD: University of California, San Francisco
• General Psychiatry: Harbor-UCLA, Torrance, California
• Child Psychiatry: UCLA-Neuropsychiatric Institute
• Chief Fellow: UCLA

View Dr. Sugar's Consulting Profile.

Seth Goldstein, is an attorney representing parents and children in family violence cases for 23 years. His practice uses the successful multi-disciplinary prosecution model bringing to a case the special expertise of various professionals involved. Since 1994, he has been the Executive Director of the Child Abuse Forensic Institute, a non-profit resource and referral organization he created using the same approach handling child abuse based in Monterey, California. When working for the district attorney in Napa County, his program achieved a 96.5% conviction rate, at charging, charging 75% of the cases brought to the program. He currently sits as an advisory board member for the Family Violence Appeals Project, Oakland, California, that has had an amassed an unprecedented 85% success rate in its appeals.

Mr. Goldstein has worked as a consultant for the State of California on the subject of response to domestic violence; the National Counsel of Juvenile and Family Court Judges on family violence, a law enforcement investigator specializing in the investigations of Sexual Assault, Child Physical and Sexual Abuse, and Family Violence for the Berkeley Police Department, the Santa Clara and Napa County District Attorney’s Offices. He has testified as an expert witness in Criminal, Civil, Juvenile Dependency and Family Law courts in California and other states on these subjects. He has written and been published on the topics of family violence and child abuse in various national journals, publications. His book on investigating child sexual abuse by Seth Goldstein is in its second edition.

Expertise: Analysis and testimony on the dynamics of child sexual abuse and domestic violence. Consultation and assistance in search for evidence, preparing for and executing trial strategies.

Experience: 41 years working in the field of interpersonal violence, child abuse, and domestic violence as frontline investigator, district attorney investigator, Project Director of Child Abuse Prosecution Program, expert witness, consultant and attorney in same fields.

Education/Training: Police Academy, 1973; Minor in Psychology/Sociology, SFSU, 100's hours of specialized training in psychological dynamics of interpersonal violence, child abuse and domestic violence, court qualified expert in several states on sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, police procedures in investigating these matters. Attorney for 23 years representing parties and children in these matters in civil, criminal and juvenile courts.

Degrees/Certifications: BA, Rhetoric, 1977, U.C., Berkeley JD, Oakland College of Law, 1993

Awards/Honors: ABA Gavel Award, 1980; Officer of the Year, California State Juvenile Officer's Assn, 1990; Top Attorneys of America, 2018-2019, Who's Who Directories.

View Seth Goldstein's Consulting Profile.

Michael Levittan, Ph.D. is an Expert Witness, Psychotherapist, Media Consultant, and Lecturer at UCLA Extension and California Graduate Institute. Dr. Levittan works as an expert witness on cases involving domestic violence, child abuse, post-traumatic stress, anger issues, child custody, school violence. He is director of a certified Domestic Violence/Anger Management program and has numerous articles published on violence and abuse.

Dr. Levittan presents at UCLA, National Alliance on Mental Illness, L.A. Superior Court, U.S. Marines, Hillsides Children's Home, Loyola Marymount Univ, International Conference on Violence, Abuse, Trauma, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Grief & Loss Conference, The Maple Center, Womens Shelters.

Dr. Levittan's website: www.michaellevittan.com.

Dr. Heather L. Manning is recognized Forensic Criminologist and Subject Matter Expert specializing in violent crime, sexual exploitation, domestic violence, and human trafficking. With nearly two decades of experience spanning academia, clinical practice, child welfare, corrections, and law enforcement collaboration, Dr. Manning brings a rare interdisciplinary perspective to the analysis, investigation, and prevention of complex criminal behavior.

Dr. Manning holds a Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology and has extensive expertise in criminal profiling, behavioral analysis, forensic interviewing, and trauma-informed investigative practices. She currently serves as a Professor and Subject Matter Expert at Evidentia University, where she teaches graduate-level courses in criminal profiling, psychological profiling, and behavioral analysis grounded in FBI-aligned methodologies. Her academic work emphasizes offender typologies, victimology, and the behavioral dynamics of violent and sexually motivated crimes. She also works as a cold case investigator and a research IRB board member.

Litigation Support - Providing expert witness consultation and testimony in legal proceedings. Services include case review and expert opinion development, written expert reports, deposition preparation and testimony, trial testimony, and consultation on behavioral evidence, offender dynamics, victim behavior, and trauma impact.

Areas of Expertise

An active scholar and author, Dr. Manning’s research and publications focus on sexual violence, offender behavior, trauma, and systemic failures in protection and response. Her work includes peer-reviewed research, professional conference presentations, and authored books addressing serial violence and survivor experiences.

Dr. Manning is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, the American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Sciences, and the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology. She is widely respected for her ability to bridge clinical insight, academic rigor, and real-world investigative application—advancing justice, victim-centered practice, and professional excellence across forensic and behavioral disciplines.