Opinion ID: 2280054
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Testimony of Lay Witnesses Concerning Defendant's State of Intoxication

Text: A number of witnesses, all relatives of defendant, testified concerning the consumption of alcohol by defendant on the date in question. They further testified concerning his physical appearance, his speech, the odor of alcohol, and other observations which might lead to the inference of intoxication, although these witnesses were not permitted to testify concerning their conclusion that defendant was intoxicated or drunk. Many states permit lay witnesses, as a means of shorthand rendition, to testify concerning conclusions or inferences relating to corporal appearance of persons and things. Many jurisdictions exclude such testimony on the ground that lay witnesses should be confined to testimony concerning their first-hand observations as opposed to their inferences or conclusions drawn from such observations. The history of this philosophic legal dispute is set forth in 7 Wigmore, Evidence §§ 1917-1919 at 1-17 (Chadbourn rev. 1978). Wigmore suggested: [T]here is no virtue in any test based on the mere verbal or logical distinction between `opinion' and `fact.' In all the law of evidence, there is no instance in which the use of a mere catchword has caused so much error of principle and vice of policy: error of principle, because the distinction between `opinion' and `fact' has consistently and wrongly been treated as an aim in itself and a self-justifying dogma; vice of policy, because if this specious catchword had not been so handily provided for ignorant objectors, the principle involved would not have received at the hands of the bar and the bench the extensive and vicious development which it has had in this country. Id. § 1919 at 14. Wigmore continued the criticism of this rule in commenting upon use of opinions to describe corporal appearance of persons and things in the following terms: The opinion rule is often sought to be applied to forbid compendious descriptions of the appearances externally indicating internal states  for example whether a person `looked' sick or sad or angry [or intoxicated]. There is no more reason in this class of cases than in the preceding one for the opinion rule to exclude the testimony. The exclusionary rulings here abound particularly in absurdities and quibbles  highly fit for cynical amusement, were not the names of Justice and Truth involved in their consideration. One may wonder how long these solemn farces will be perpetrated in our law. Id. § 1974 at 153-62. Although Rhode Island has no case that specifically passes upon this point, many courts have permitted lay witnesses to testify concerning the inference that a person appears to be intoxicated. See, e.g., Snow v. State, 50 Ala.App. 381, 279 So.2d 552, cert. denied, 291 Ala. 798, 279 So.2d 558 (1973); People v. Beal, 44 Cal. App.3d 216, 118 Cal. Rptr. 272 (1974); People v. Norman, 194 Colo. 372, 572 P.2d 819 (1977); State v. Jones, 124 Conn. 664, 2 A.2d 374 (1938); State v. Durrant, 55 Del. 510, 188 A.2d 526 (1963); People v. Sprinkle, 74 Ill. App.3d 456, 30 Ill.Dec. 439, 393 N.E.2d 94 (1979); State v. Davis, 196 N.W.2d 885 (Iowa 1972); State v. Libby, 153 Me. 1, 133 A.2d 877 (1957); State v. Schneider, 311 Minn. 566, 249 N.W.2d 720 (1977); State v. Arsenault, 115 N.H. 109, 336 A.2d 244 (1975); State v. Shiren, 9 N.J. 445, 88 A.2d 601 (1952); Commonwealth v. Reynolds, 256 Pa.Super. 259, 389 A.2d 1113 (1978); Denham v. State, 574 S.W.2d 129 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978); State v. Norton, 134 Vt. 100, 353 A.2d 324 (1976). However, even states that recognize the rule sometimes have difficulty in applying it. See Commonwealth v. Hughes, 480 Pa. 311, 389 A.2d 1081 (1978); State v. Norton, supra . We note that the Federal Rules of Evidence provide in Rule 701 that a nonexpert witness may testify to those opinions or inferences which are (a) rationally based on the perception of the witness and (b) helpful to a clear understanding of his testimony or the determination of a fact in issue. In commenting upon this rule, the advisory committee's note states in part: Witnesses often find difficulty in expressing themselves in language which is not that of an opinion or conclusion. While the courts have made concessions in certain recurring situations, necessity as a standard for permitting opinions and conclusions has proved too elusive and too unadaptable to particular situations for purposes of satisfactory judicial administration. McCormick § 11. Moreover, the practicial impossibility of determining by rule what is a `fact,' demonstrated by a century of litigation of the question of what is a fact for purposes of pleading under the Field Code, extends into evidence also. 7 Wigmore, § 1919. Fed.R.Evid. 701, Advisory Committee's Note. We believe on the basis of an examination of the foregoing authorities that the better and more progressive rule is to allow the short-hand rendition of such external appearances as intoxication by lay witnesses as long as the witness has had an opportunity to observe the person and to give the concrete details on which the inference or description is founded. McCormick's Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 11 at 25-26 (2d ed. Cleary 1972). In Rhode Island the law on this point might be described as unsettled though to some extent illuminated by the general principles enunciated in State v. Gabriau, 113 R.I. 420, 322 A.2d 30 (1974), and State v. Lutye, 109 R.I. 490, 287 A.2d 634 (1972). In State v. Lutye we observed: While there is no hard and fast rule which tells us when a nonexpert may augment his testimony of what he saw with an opinion, there are broad principles which provide some guidance. Thus, it is established that he may venture an opinion where `   the subject matter to which the testimony relates cannot be reproduced or described to the jury precisely as it appeared to the witness at the time, and the facts upon which the witness is called to express an opinion are such as men in general are capable of comprehending.' [2] Id. at 494, 287 A.2d at 637. An application of the foregoing rule might properly have been determined by the trial justice to limit the testimony of the lay witnesses to a description of what they had observed with their senses although it could also be interpreted to allow the expression of an opinion since intoxication is a condition that men and women in general are capable of comprehending. We believe that the better interpretation would have allowed testimony regarding the opinion or conclusion of the witnesses on this issue as Wigmore recommended. Nevertheless, we cannot say that on the state of the law as evidenced by our prior opinions, the trial justice committed error. Moreover, since he did allow an abundance of evidence relating to the appearance of defendant, his conduct and speech, the amount of his alcoholic consumption, and his appearance and actions at the bar where his mother was employed, there was more than enough evidence presented to the jury from which it could itself have drawn the necessary inference. Consequently, although the rule recognized by the trial justice may not have been the most progressive in the views of evidentiary commentators, it did not prejudice defendant.