Opinion ID: 1265006
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Admission of Expert Opinion Testimony

Text: The State introduced the testimony of Dr. Chapman, Assistant Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Virginia, who performed an autopsy on the body of Pennisi and who, over objection, testified as to his opinion concerning the probable date of death and the probable lapse of time between the eating by the deceased of corn, found in his stomach, and the death. There is no merit in the defendant's objection to the opinion testimony of this witness. The record shows that the defendant stipulated that he was an expert doctor, physician and pathologist and forensic pathologist. The doctor's testimony as to his qualifications would have been sufficient to support such finding had there been no stipulation. His examination of the body of Pennisi was sufficient to serve as a basis for his opinion as to the date and time of death. State v. Bright, 237 N.C. 475, 75 S.E.2d 407. The State also called as its witness Frederick J. Wallace, who testified that he has been a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation since October, 1963, and, as such, conducts microscopic examinations and comparisons of hairs and fibers at the FBI Laboratory, that he has conducted thousands upon thousands of such examinations, has testified as an expert in this field numerous times and that he received over a year of intensive training in the FBI Laboratory, under qualified examiners of the Hairs and Fibers Unit, until such time as it was recognized that he was competent to conduct examinations on his own. The court found Mr. Wallace to be an expert in the field of analyzing and comparing hairs and fibers. The defendant assigns this finding as error. There is no merit in this contention. The court's finding that a witness is qualified as an expert will not be disturbed on appeal if there is evidence to show that, through study or experience, or both, he has acquired such skill that he is better qualified than the jury to form an opinion on the particular subject as to which he testifies. Paris v. Carolina Portable, Aggregates, Inc., 271 N.C. 471, 157 S.E.2d 131; State v. Moore, 245 N.C. 158, 95 S.E.2d 548; Stansbury, North Carolina Evidence, 2d Ed., § 133. There is in this record substantially more evidence of the expertness of Mr. Wallace than was present in the case of State v. Mobley, 273 N.C. 471, 160 S.E.2d 334, cited by the defendant. Consequently, there was no error in permitting this witness to testify as to his findings and opinions concerning the similarity of the drapes found in the defendant's warehouse with that found upon the body of Pennisi, or as to the similarity of the hairs found in the warehouse and in the trunk of the defendant's automobile with hairs taken from the head of Pennisi's body. The State also called as its witness Frank DeRonja, a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, assigned to the Physics and Chemistry Section of the FBI Laboratory, his duties being the making of examinations of metals and metal products. He was found to be an expert in metallurgy and as to this finding the defendant interposed no objection. Mr. DeRonja testified that he examined the hooks and weights, found attached to or in the drape wrapped around Pennisi's body when it was taken from the lake, and the hooks and weights, attached to or found in the drapes taken from the defendant's warehouse. He testified that machine markings on these showed the hooks on all of the drapes were made by the same machines and that the weights on all of them were of the same size, type and construction. Upon cross examination, he acknowledged that he has drapery hooks in his own home. The court sustained objections to questions by defendant's counsel as to whether he had examined the hooks on the draperies in his own home to see whether they bore the same characteristics and marks as those upon the drapes here in question. The defendant assigns this as error, contending that the court thereby unreasonably curtailed his right of cross examination. There is no merit in this assignment.