Opinion ID: 1744864
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: assignment numbers eleven and twelve

Text: By these assignments of error defendants contend that the trial court erred in allowing a state witness to give opinion testimony. Specifically, the defendants complain of the questioning of the state witness, Gaye Nell Van Dyke Goff, one of the adult women of the household. In her testimony, Ms. Goff named the children from whom food was withheld. She was then asked by the prosecution whether any one of the children was more frequently discriminated against in the withholding of food. She responded that the decedent, Arthur, was. The defendants' attorney objected to the use of the word discriminate, and the trial judge overruled the objection. The witness was further questioned as to why the decedent, Arthur, stole food. The defense attorney objected to this question on the ground that it called for an opinion. The trial court overruled this objection. The witness, Ms. Goff, answered that Arthur was not getting enough food to eat at his regular meals since his portions had been cut as a means of punishment. She said that Arthur was tied up to prevent him from stealing food. On appeal the defendants contend that the witness gave an inadmissible opinion. They argue in the alternative that the evidence should be barred because the state did not lay a foundation as to the witness's qualifications to make the judgments offered and that the court never ruled that the witness was an expert. Generally speaking, a witness can testify only as to facts within his knowledge, and neither as to any recital of facts heard by him, nor as to any impression or opinion that he may have. La.R.S. 15:463. However, in applying this rule limiting opinion we have recognized that it states a guiding principle containing several variables. The terms fact and opinion denote merely a difference of degree of concreteness of description or a difference in nearness or remoteness of inference. The opinion rule operates to prefer the more concrete description to the less concrete, the direct form of statement to the inferential. State v. Wheeler, 416 So.2d 78 (La.1982). For this reason we have allowed certain testimony which might be termed opinion when it is clear from the circumstances that the witness drew a reasonable inference from his personal observations. See State v. Vanderhoff, 415 So.2d 190 (La.1982). However, in deciding whether to admit such testimony the trial judge should consider several factors, including whether the testimony relates only to a collateral matter or to the ultimate issue of the case. Cf. State v. Wheeler, supra . See McCormick, Evidence, § 12 at 26-29 (Cleary ed. 1972). In the present case the trial court did not err in allowing the testimony of Ms. Goff. She was present in the household during the occurrence of events which culminated in Arthur's death. Her testimony is one primarily of facts about the food that Arthur received and about the treatment of all the children in general. The statements of which the defendants complain are reasonable inferences drawn from the witness's personal observations. Further, the testimony objected to did not relate as much to the ultimate question of whether the defendants deprived Arthur of food with the criminal intent to kill or cause great bodily harm but with the more peripheral question of why Arthur had stolen food. The defendants' arguments that Ms. Goff's testimony should have been excluded because she was not properly qualified as an expert are without merit. Ms. Goff was never offered as an expert witness. She was offered as a witness to the harsh treatment which she observed inflicted upon Arthur and the other children. Accordingly, these assignments of error lack merit.