Everybody is entitled to their opinion. But, not everybody is entitled to have that opinion heard by a jury. Judges limit testimony of witnesses based upon their expertise of a subject, or lack thereof. More often than not, its law enforcement testimony that reaches beyond the scope of their "criminal justice degree". Nothing wrong with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, nothing wrong with the training at the police academy. That being said, such training does not make a police officer an expert in everything under the sun. Let's take a look at a recent real life example of how opinion testimony can get a conviction overturned.
In Proctor v. State, Eric Proctor took his case to a jury trial in Osceola County. 97 So.3d 313 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012). He had two counts of grand theft, and two counts of worthless checks. Here's what happen: two fraudulent checks were written out to Eric Proctor, and cashed by "him" at a SunTrust bank. The lead detective pulled the bank video, and testified at trial that the person on the video was, in fact, Eric Proctor. Furthermore, the detective then pulled a copy of Proctor's driver's license, and testified that the signature on Proctor's driver's license matched the signature on the worthless checks. Obviously, the lead detective was not an expert in either category.
SPECIAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE NOTE: Hats off to Proctor's criminal defense attorney, a public defender from Bob Wesley's office (according to the clerk's website). They did a great job on this, from my reading of the 5th DCA's opinion. Why do I say that? Well, it is obvious that the public defender looked at the state's witness list and noticed a glaring absence: no expert witness listed for handwriting analysis, and no expert witness listed on eyewitness identification. After all, how can anyone say the person on the bank video is Eric Proctor, or testify that the signatures match--but an expert in that field? (or, somebody that is personally familiar with either). So, Proctor's attorney then filed a "Motion in Limine to Exclude Hearsay Evidence and Improper Inferences Drawn From Hearsay Evidence". Bam, right there on Osceola's Clerk of Court website, this PD is telling everyone that the state doesn't have a case, and that the court must not permit the detective to testify about stuff that he has no business testifying to.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion. But, not everybody is entitled to have that opinion heard by a jury. Judges limit testimony of witnesses based upon their expertise of a subject, or lack thereof. More often than not, its law enforcement testimony that reaches beyond the scope of their "criminal justice degree". Nothing wrong with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, nothing wrong with the training at the police academy. That being said, such training does not make a police officer an expert in everything under the sun. Let's take a look at a recent real life example of how opinion testimony can get a conviction overturned.
In Proctor v. State, Eric Proctor took his case to a jury trial in Osceola County. 97 So.3d 313 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012). He had two counts of grand theft, and two counts of worthless checks. Here's what happen: two fraudulent checks were written out to Eric Proctor, and cashed by "him" at a SunTrust bank. The lead detective pulled the bank video, and testified at trial that the person on the video was, in fact, Eric Proctor. Furthermore, the detective then pulled a copy of Proctor's driver's license, and testified that the signature on Proctor's driver's license matched the signature on the worthless checks. Obviously, the lead detective was not an expert in either category.
SPECIAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE NOTE: Hats off to Proctor's criminal defense attorney, a public defender from Bob Wesley's office (according to the clerk's website). They did a great job on this, from my reading of the 5th DCA's opinion. Why do I say that? Well, it is obvious that the public defender looked at the state's witness list and noticed a glaring absence: no expert witness listed for handwriting analysis, and no expert witness listed on eyewitness identification. After all, how can anyone say the person on the bank video is Eric Proctor, or testify that the signatures match--but an expert in that field? (or, somebody that is personally familiar with either). So, Proctor's attorney then filed a "Motion in Limine to Exclude Hearsay Evidence and Improper Inferences Drawn From Hearsay Evidence". Bam, right there on Osceola's Clerk of Court website, this PD is telling everyone that the state doesn't have a case, and that the court must not permit the detective to testify about stuff that he has no business testifying to.