Opinion ID: 789452
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Allowing Det. Rodriguez to Testify as Both a Fact and Expert Witness

Text: 62 Although this court has frequently cautioned as to the risks presented by allowing a law enforcement officer to testify as both a fact and an expert witness, see, e.g., United States v. Cruz, 363 F.3d at 194-97; United States v. Dukagjini, 326 F.3d at 54-56, we have not categorically prohibited the practice, see United States v. Feliciano, 223 F.3d at 121 (stating that dual testimony is not objectionable in principle). Instead, we have urged district courts to exercise particular vigilance to ensure that the witness's dual role does not impair the jury's ability properly to evaluate credibility. See United States v. Cruz, 363 F.3d at 195; United States v. Dukagjini, 326 F.3d at 54. Specifically, a court must ensure that the reliability of the witness's expert opinions is not improperly enhanced by a jury's assumption that the witness has knowledge of the defendant's activities that goes beyond the evidence at trial. United States v. Dukagjini, 326 F.3d at 53 (quoting United States v. Young, 745 F.2d 733, 766 (2d Cir.1984) (Newman, J., concurring)). Similarly, a witness's status as an expert cannot be allowed to enhance his credibility as a fact witness, particularly if he testifies to facts in broad, general terms, without the specifics necessary to proper jury evaluation. See United States v. Feliciano, 223 F.3d at 121. 63 A review of the record demonstrates that Det. Rodriguez's testimony did not present these concerns. Her expert testimony was brief and related only to a few general practices of street-level drug dealers, none of which was in dispute in this case. Her testimony as to facts pertinent to this particular case was also brief and, more to the point, sufficiently separate and distinct from her expert testimony to raise no concern that the line between the two would be hard to discern. Id. The single area where her credibility as a fact witness was challenged related to how and when she learned that the crack seller under investigation was named Cal rather than Kyle, as she had noted in a case report. This discrepancy raised a question about the accuracy of the witness's memory wholly unrelated to her testimony about street-level narcotics dealing. On cross-examination, Johnson's counsel vigorously tested the accuracy of Det. Rodriguez's memory on the disputed point. Under these circumstances, we are satisfied that the jury could properly assess the witness's credibility, and we find no manifest error in the district court's decision to allow the officer to testify as both a fact and an expert witness.