Opinion ID: 796343
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility of Expert Testimony Concerning Excessive Force

Text: 41 The Thompsons also challenge the district court's exclusion of expert testimony from Inspector James Lukas of the CPD's Office of Professional Standards and Sgt. Jackie Campbell, regarding whether Officer Hespe violated the Fourth Amendment by using excessive force when apprehending Thompson. The trial judge granted the defense motion in limine pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 403, stating that the probative value of such evidence [was] substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and that evidence of that nature would pose the danger of unfair prejudice and jury confusion. Order Granting Defendants' Motion in Limine to Exclude Evidence, Thompson v. City of Chicago, No. 01-C8883 (N.D.Ill. July 7, 2004). We agree. 42 As referred to above, the question of whether a police officer has used excessive force in arresting a suspect is a fact-intensive inquiry turning on the reasonableness of the particular officer's actions in light of the particular facts and circumstances of the situation faced. See, e.g., DeLuna, 447 F.3d at 1010. What is reasonable under any particular set of facts is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application. Abdullahi, 423 F.3d at 768. Accordingly, whatever insight Inspector Lukas and Sgt. Campbell might have had into whether or why Officer Hespe used excessive force would have been of little value except as to possibly causing confusion and bore a substantial risk of prejudice. The jury, after having heard all of the evidence presented, was in as good a position as the experts to judge whether the force used by the officers to subdue Thompson was objectively reasonable given the circumstances in this case. Introducing two experts to testify that Officer Hespe used excessive force would have induced the jurors to substitute their own independent conclusions for that of the experts. In other words, they would have been induced to decide the case on an improper basis ... rather than on the evidence presented ..., which is precisely why the evidence should have been excluded. 27 Connelly, 874 F.2d at 418.