Opinion ID: 1277506
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Qualification of an Expert in Administering an HGN Test

Text: {43} Torres further contends that apart from failing to lay a proper foundation as to the evidentiary reliability of HGN testing, the State neglected to lay a proper foundation in qualifying Officer Bowdich as an expert in the administration of the HGN test. Like Torres's evidentiary reliability objection, this contention gives rise to Rule 11-702 concerns. To determine the appropriate scope of appellate review concerning this issue, we must determine whether the Alberico-Daubert standard applies only to expert testimony that relies on scientific knowledge, or to all forms of expert testimony, including the administration of the HGN test by a trained observer. Courts in other states that have rejected the Frye standard in favor of Daubert are in disagreement as to the scope of Daubert 's application. See generally 4 Weinstein & Berger, supra § 702.05[2], at 702-35 to -38 nn. 10-11 (listing and summarizing cases that have come to opposite conclusions on this issue). We believe the better view is expressed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which has concluded that application of the Daubert factors is unwarranted in cases where expert testimony is based solely upon experience or training. Compton v. Subaru of Am., Inc., 82 F.3d 1513, 1518 (10th Cir.1996); accord Thomas v. Newton Int'l Enters., 42 F.3d 1266, 1270 n. 3 (9th Cir.1994) ( Daubert was clearly confined to the evaluation of scientific expert testimony. Special concerns arise when evaluating the proffer of scientific testimony that do not arise when evaluating [nonscientific testimony]. (citation omitted)); Edward J. Imwinkelried, The Next Step After Daubert: Developing a Similarly Epistemological Approach to Ensuring the Reliability of Nonscientific Expert Testimony, 15 Cardozo L.Rev. 2271, 2285 (1994) (explaining that the Daubert test is useless as a criterion for the admissibility of other types of expert testimony). {44} Under the Tenth Circuit view that we adopt today, the trial court did not err in declining to apply the Alberico-Daubert standard in determining the admissibility of Officer Bowdich's testimony as an expert in the administration of the HGN test. Officer Bowdich's expertise as an administrator of the HGN test was based solely on his experience and training, and we review the trial court's primarily factual ruling on Officer Bowdich's qualifications in this area for an abuse of discretion. See Wood v. Citizens Standard Life Ins. Co., 82 N.M. 271, 273, 480 P.2d 161, 163 (1971). {45} Regardless of whether the subject matter involves scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge, however, a witness must qualify as an expert in the field for which his or her testimony is offered before such testimony is admissible. Under [Federal Rule of Evidence] 702, a witness must qualify as an expert to testify on matters that are scientific, technical, or specialized in nature. The description of the kinds of testimony requiring expertise is broad, and so are the means to qualify a witness as an expert: What is required is knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education. It should be noted at the outset that normally the calling party must qualify the witness to testify as an expert first, before any substantive testimony is given. 3 Christopher B. Mueller & Laird C. Kirkpatrick, Federal Evidence § 349, at 602 (2d ed.1994). {46} We have already held that HGN testing involves scientific knowledge. We have also determined that Officer Bowdich does not qualify as a scientific expert who may establish the evidentiary reliability of HGN testing. Thus, the State finds itself in a quandary: Because HGN testing involves scientific knowledge; only a scientific expert may testify as to its results, and because Officer Bowdich does not qualify as a scientific expert, he may not testify about HGN test results. The question remains, however, whether witnesses who only qualify as non-scientific experts based on their training and experience may testify about the administration of tests involving scientific knowledge after an appropriate foundation regarding such knowledge has been laid by another, scientific expert. In the context of HGN testing, we conclude that such nonscientific experts may testify, provided that another, scientific expert first establishes the evidentiary reliability of the scientific principles underlying the test. {47} Although experts who lack the qualifications necessary to testify about scientific knowledge cannot establish the evidentiary reliability of the scientific knowledge underlying the respective tests, they may, because of their training, experience, and specialized knowledge, testify as to the administration and specific results of the test after it has been shown to meet the requirement of evidentiary reliability. We note that nystagmus, or jerking of the eyes, `can be observed directly and does not require special equipment.'1 Erwin, supra § 10.06[5], at 10-32 (quoting Transportation Safety Inst., NHTSA, U.S. Dep't of Transp., HS 178 R6/92, DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Student Manual, at VIII-16 to -18 (1992)). In administering the HGN test a police officer will move an object back and forth in front of a drinking/driving suspect's face.... The officer will observe the suspect's eyes as they track the moving object, specifically taking note at what point each eye begins jerking. 1 Nichols, supra § 14:32.50, at 298; see also 1 Erwin, supra § 10.06[5], at 10-28 to -32. Based on this description and our review of the record in this case, we conclude that in order to establish the technical or specialized knowledge required to qualify a witness as an expert in the administration of the HGN test, there must be a showing: (1) that the expert has the ability and training to administer the HGN test properly, and (2) that the expert did, in fact, administer the HGN test properly at the time and upon the person in question. {48} In the instant case, we conclude that the State satisfied these two foundational criteria. Regarding his ability and training to administer the HGN test properly, Officer Bowdich testified at trial that he had used the test on a regular basis, that he had conducted numerous HGN tests on subjects who had been drinking and on subjects who had not, and that he had been trained to determine, based on appropriate HGN test techniques, whether an individual had been drinking. This was sufficient. As for administering the HGN test properly at the time and upon the person in question, Officer Bowdich described the HGN test techniques he employed in administering the test to Torres on January 16, 1994, testified that the techniques he employed were those in which he had been trained, and explained that, based on his administering the test to Torres, he determined that Torres had been drinking quite a bit. Again, this was sufficient. We thus conclude that the State properly qualified Officer Bowdich as an expert in the administration of the HGN test. {49} Finally, we take the opportunity to correct the misapprehension of the law that may arise from Burke, 1999-NMCA-031, ¶ 15, 126 N.M. 712, 974 P.2d 1169. In that case, our Court of Appeals was confronted with a situation where the State offered an officer's testimony about HGN test results without first establishing that the officer did, in fact, administer the HGN test properly at the time and upon the person in question: [W]hen confronted with a photocopy of the training manual that the officer used when learning how to give HGN tests, [the officer] admitted that he used improper procedure on virtually every aspect of the test. Specifically, (1) he was looking for smooth tracking of the eyes after, rather than before, the test; (2) he checked for all three of the required clues during the same pass of the object before the subject's eyes, and he checked for these clues in two total passes, rather than checking for each of the three clues during two separate passes, for a total of six passes; (3) when he checked for maximum deviation, he held the object for two or three seconds, rather than the required four; and (4) he never spent the required four seconds getting to the 45-degree point. Id. ¶ 3. Because of the officer's improper administration of the test, the Court of Appeals acknowledged that the HGN evidence may have been improperly admitted [a]s expert testimony of a specific degree of intoxication. Id. ¶ 15. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals concluded that this officer's HGN testimony was based on personal experience, rather than scientific knowledge. Thus, it held that the evidence was admissible. As discussed earlier, this ruling was incorrect insofar as it suggests that HGN evidence does not rely on scientific knowledge. {50} The Court of Appeals also was incorrect in stating, When used as nonscientific, expert testimony, we believe our Supreme Court would rule that deficiencies in conducting the HGN test such as [those shown above] would go to the weight, not the admissibility, of the evidence.... Id. ¶ 15. In light of the foundational requirements set forth above, it is clear that this is not our view. As the partial dissent in Burke explains, The officer ... acknowledged that his manner of conducting the test departed substantially from what was required by his training manual. Given that acknowledgment, I do not think that his personal experience with the HGN test provided a sufficient foundation for admitting the results of his test.... Id. ¶ 21 (Hartz, C.J., concurring in part, dissenting in part). We agree with the partial dissent in Burke that the foundational requirements for admitting the results of HGN testing were not met under these circumstances, and we overrule Burke, 1999-NMCA-031, ¶ 15, 126 N.M. 712, 974 P.2d 1169, to the extent it is inconsistent with this opinion.