Opinion ID: 2633411
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: surrebuttal testimony on speed

Text: ¶ 19 Green argues the court erred in allowing Louder to present surrebuttal testimony in regard to speed. We review challenges to the admission of rebuttal testimony for abuse of discretion. Turner v. Nelson, 872 P.2d 1021, 1023 (Utah 1994) (citing rule 103 of the Utah Rules of Evidence). ¶ 20 At trial Murray testified she was traveling approximately 20 miles per hour just before the accident. Later in the proceeding, Duvall, Louder's expert, estimated Murray was traveling approximately 38 miles per hour, and Louder 18.8 miles per hour, at the point of impact. ¶ 21 To rebut this testimony, Green called David Engebretsen. Because Engebretsen had not been disclosed as a potential witness prior to trial, Louder moved to preclude his testimony. The motion was denied and Engebretsen testified that Duval had failed to subtract the momentum of the boat from the momentum of Louder's truck and trailer in his speed estimation, and that this was significant because it would bring the impact speeds much closer together. ¶ 22 Louder then called Newel Knight, who had been designated as a surrebuttal witness. Knight was asked to explain the significance of the weight of the boat in the reconstruction of the accident. Knight testified the weight of the boat was used as a number to plug into a formula to determine the possible reaction time of these drivers. According to his testimony, the weight of the boat was only used to validate the estimated speed of the vehicles and change the perception reaction times of the drivers. He also testified that [i]f we were to run the numbers and take the boat in or out it might change the speed slightly[,] but we are dealing with one and a half seconds difference of time. That is why it doesn't matter what that [estimated] speed is. Green argues that Knight's testimony was not proper rebuttal testimony because it corroborated, reiterated, or repeated the defendant's case in chief. ¶ 23 This court has defined surrebuttal evidence as evidence tending to refute, modify, explain, or otherwise minimize or nullify the effect of the opponent's evidence. Randle v. Allen, 862 P.2d 1329, 1338 (Utah 1993) (citing Bd. of Educ. v. Barton, 617 P.2d 347, 349 (Utah 1980)). Generally, testimony presented for the purpose of rebuttal should be admitted, even if the rebuttal is somewhat repetitive of testimony on issues addressed during the case-in-chief. Id. (citing Workman v. Henrie, 71 Utah 400, 407, 266 P. 1033, 1036 (1928)). Here Knight's testimony was offered to explain and minimize the effect of Engebretsen's testimony that the weight of the boat was an important factor in the reconstruction of the accident. The testimony was not offered to rehash or repeat Engebretsen's testimony. Even if somewhat repetitive, it was proper surrebuttal testimony.