Opinion ID: 1902219
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Qualifying Expert Witnesses

Text: Booth called four witnesses as experts at the sentencing hearing. We are concerned here with three: Dr. Donald R. Jasinski, a medical doctor who was offered as an expert on chemical dependence; Dr. Norman J. Karl, a licensed psychologist who was offered as an expert on the psychological state of Booth; and Ms. Cessi Alphonso, a social worker who was offered as an expert on psychosocial assessments and the impact of a person's immediate family and immediate environment on his or her psychosocial development. At the conclusion of the direct and cross-examinations on each of these witness's qualifications, the defense offered each as an expert. The judge responded that he would rule on questions as they were asked. Booth argues that because the court did not announce that it unqualifiedly accepted these witnesses as experts, the court improperly diminished the weight of their testimony in the eyes of the jurors, and, presumably, that we should reverse the judgment on that basis. The argument is devoid of merit. All three witnesses testified at length. Each gave opinion evidence to each question propounded that was designed to elicit opinion evidence, with the arguable exception of one question. Significantly, Booth does not point to the proffer of any evidence that was kept from the jury by the alleged refusal to accept the witnesses as experts. In essence, the trial judge's technique of ruling on individual questions does not differ from what a judge ordinarily does after ruling that a witness is qualified as an expert. Even then the court must rule on objections involving the scope of the witness's expertise. See Evans v. State, 322 Md. 24, 34, 585 A.2d 204, 208-09 (1991) (trial judge not required to permit a qualified expert to express an opinion on any matter within the expert's field); Simmons v. State, 313 Md. 33, 42, 542 A.2d 1258, 1262 (1988) (even though a trial judge has ruled to allow an expert to testify in general terms, the trial judge must engage in a separate evaluation of the admissibility of an expert opinion). Booth refers to one instance where the trial judge ruled, in a sidebar conference, that Ms. Alphonso could not show the jury a detailed diagram of Booth's family tree which she had prepared in advance of trial. Booth cites the following statement from the judge's ruling as an example of his failure to qualify Ms. Alphonso as an expert: I also have some concerns about having someone offered as an expert after being told not to prepare a written report. It looks as if it was done for the express purpose of preventing the State from knowing what the witness was going to say, and I am not going to permit her to testify as an expert, Counsel. This statement is taken out of context by Booth. The substance of the judge's ruling on this point was that the diagram was a written report of an expert, and since the defense had not made it available to the State the defense would not be allowed to use the diagram. See Maryland Rule 4-263(d)(2). This was not a ruling that Ms. Alphonso was not an expert. Implicitly it was a ruling that she was an expert because the purpose of the colloquy was in part to decide whether the diagram constituted an expert's report. See id. Later in this same colloquy the judge made clear his ruling on Ms. Alphonso's qualifications as an expert: Ms. Alphonso has been offered by the defense as an expert witness in this case and the Court has not accepted her as an expert at this point. The Court will rule on each question as it is asked, as to whether or not it is proper or appropriate. .... I will not certify her as an expert and permit her to just simply, without any further question, give her opinion. Her opinion is going to probably be permitted in some instances and may not in others, depending upon each individual question.... Ms. Alphonso went on to give an opinion concerning how Booth's family life and environment had affected him. [12]