Opinion ID: 1279824
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Admissibility under Neb.Evid.R. 704.

Text: According to Reynolds, Neb.Evid.R. 704, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-704 (Reissue 1989), requires admission of the psychiatric opinion evidence on deliberateness and premeditation in reference to Reynolds' shooting Dodge. Pursuant to Neb.Evid.R. 704: Testimony in the form of an opinion or inference otherwise admissible is not objectionable because it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact. Neb.Evid.R. 704 is identical to Fed.R.Evid. 704, as initially adopted, for which the advisory committee's note includes: The basic approach to opinions, lay and expert, in these rules is to admit them when helpful to the trier of fact. In order to render this approach fully effective and to allay any doubt on the subject, the so-called ultimate issue rule is specifically abolished by the instant rule. The older cases often contained strictures against allowing witnesses to express opinions upon ultimate issues, as a particular aspect of the rule against opinions. The rule was unduly restrictive, difficult of application, and generally served only to deprive the trier of fact of useful information.... The basis usually assigned for the rule, to prevent the witness from usurping the province of the jury, is aptly characterized as empty rhetoric. 7 Wigmore § 1920, p. 17. Efforts to meet the felt needs of particular situations led to odd verbal circumlocutions which were said not to violate the rule. Thus a witness could express his estimate of the criminal responsibility of an accused in terms of sanity or insanity, but not in terms of ability to tell right from wrong or other more modern standard. And in cases of medical causation, witnesses were sometimes required to couch their opinions in cautious phrases of might or could, rather than did, though the result was to deprive many opinions of the positiveness to which they were entitled, accompanied by the hazard of a ruling of insufficiency to support a verdict. In other instances the rule was simply disregarded, and, as concessions to need, opinions were allowed upon such matters as intoxication, speed, handwriting, and value, although more precise coincidence with an ultimate issue would scarcely be possible. .... The abolition of the ultimate issue rule does not lower the bars so as to admit all opinions. Under Rules 701 and 702, opinions must be helpful to the trier of fact, and Rule 403 provides for exclusion of evidence which wastes time. These provisions afford ample assurances against the admission of opinions which would merely tell the jury what result to reach, somewhat in the manner of the oath-helpers of an earlier day. We note that Fed.R.Evid. 704 was amended in 1984 by adding section or paragraph (b), which provides: No expert witness testifying with respect to the mental state or condition of a defendant in a criminal case may state an opinion or inference as to whether the defendant did or did not have the mental state or condition constituting an element of the crime charged or of a defense thereto. Such ultimate issues are matters for the trier of fact alone. As reflected in the report of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary concerning the amendment by Fed.R.Evid. 704(b): The purpose of this amendment is to eliminate the confusing spectacle of competing expert witnesses testifying to direct contradictory conclusions as to the ultimate legal issue to be found by the trier of fact.... [E]xpert psychiatric testimony would be limited to presenting and explaining their diagnoses, such as whether the defendant had a severe mental disease or defect and what the characteristics of such a disease or defect, if any, may have been.... .... Moreover, the rationale for precluding ultimate opinion psychiatric testimony extends beyond the insanity defense to any ultimate mental state of the defendant that is relevant to the legal conclusion sought to be proven. The Committee has fashioned its Rule 704 provision to reach all such ultimate issues, e.g., premeditation in a homicide case, or lack of predisposition in entrapment. S.Rep. No. 225 reprinted in 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 3182, 3412-13. Pursuant to Neb.Evid.R. 704, an expert's opinion, which is otherwise admissible, is not objectionable and, therefore, inadmissible because the opinion embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact. Consequently, in the absence of a provision such as Fed.R.Evid. 704(b), the opinions of Drs. Baldwin and Kenney regarding deliberateness and premeditation in Reynolds' shooting Dodge were not rendered inadmissible simply because the opinions embraced an ultimate issue for the jury in Reynolds' case. At the fringe of Neb.Evid.R. 704, and perhaps beyond, is Shover v. General Motors Corp., 198 Neb. 470, 253 N.W.2d 299 (1977), an action against an automobile manufacturer to recover on the theory of strict liability for personal injuries. The station wagon in which the plaintiffs were riding struck a highway guardrail, skidded, and finally overturned. This court noted that the ultimate fact at issue ... was the cause of the station wagon turning into the guardrail. 198 Neb. at 475, 253 N.W.2d at 303. On that issue, this court held that the defendant's expert witness, a traffic engineer and consultant in the field of traffic accidents, properly testified pursuant to Neb.Evid.R. 704 that in his opinion, the cause of the vehicle's striking the guardrail was because the driver fell asleep. 198 Neb. at 475, 253 N.W.2d at 303. Since an expert's opinion embracing an ultimate issue is not inadmissible if the opinion is otherwise admissible, Neb. Evid.R. 704 must be read in conjunction with Neb.Evid.R. 702 (testimony by experts), 401 (relevant evidence defined), 402 (irrelevant evidence inadmissible), and 403 (exclusion of relevant evidence). See Little Oil Co., Inc. v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 852 F.2d 441, 446 (9th Cir.1988): Rule 704 does not render all expert testimony admissible.