Opinion ID: 1120776
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the officer was competent to testify as an expert on the administration of the hgn test.

Text: We now turn to the issue whether Officer Fost was competent to testify as an expert on the administration of the HGN test. As our Court of Appeals has observed: To give expert opinion testimony, a witness must first be qualified as an expert on the matter at hand. Whether a witness is sufficiently qualified as an expert is a matter largely within the discretion of the trial court. Once the witness is qualified as an expert, the trial court must determine whether such expert opinion testimony will assist the trier of fact in understanding the evidence. If the testimony is thus competent and relevant, it may be admissible; the weight given to the testimony is left to the trier of fact. The admissibility of expert opinion testimony is discretionary with the trial court and will not be disturbed absent a showing of abuse of discretion. State v. Hopkins, 113 Idaho 679, 680-81, 747 P.2d 88, 89-90 (Ct.App. 1987). The district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing Officer Fost to testify as an expert on the administration of the HGN test. The State satisfactorily established Fost's qualifications. Fost is attached to the Select Traffic Enforcement Team. This group of officers conducts traffic accident investigations and traffic law enforcement, including DUI detection and arrest. Fost is also an instructor in the use of field sobriety tests. Fost was trained by members of the Idaho State Police, and he also attended seminars conducted by Dr. Marcelline Burns of the Southern California Research Institute (SCRI). Dr. Burns worked with the NHTSA to develop reliable field sobriety tests, and was one of the designers of the test testifying before the Arizona trial court. See State v. Superior Court, 718 P.2d at 173. Even though the testimony elicited from Fost concerning the correlation between nystagmus and blood alcohol content was improper, the court nevertheless properly admitted Fost's expert testimony on the administration of the HGN test. Qualifying police officers as experts on the administration of the HGN test is a simple matter because, as a California court recently stated: The observation of HGN in a person and its interpretation as an effect of alcohol intoxication do not necessarily require expertise in physiology, toxicology, or any other scientific field. The nystagmus effect can be observed without mechanical, electronic or chemical equipment of any kind. At least in the simple form presented in this case, it requires no more medical training than administration of the other field sobriety tests, such as the one-legged balance. People v. Ojeda, 225 Cal. App.3d 404, 275 Cal. Rptr. 472, 474 (1990).