Opinion ID: 1281049
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: testimony of law enforcement officials

Text: Appellant next argues that the district court erred in permitting three members of local law enforcement to testify about public safety concerns in connection with a proposed upgrade in appellant's status at the LRC. Appellant's contention is that none of these law enforcement officials were qualified to give their opinions, as lay witnesses or as expert witnesses, and that the admission of such testimony violated the Nebraska rules of evidence and appellant's right to due process and treatment. The district court denied the request of appellant and the recommendations of the LRC to change appellant's status at the LRC from modified code 2 to code 3. A code 2 patient is permitted on the LRC's grounds under supervision where the staff/patient ratio is at least 2:10. A code 2 patient is not permitted to go on therapeutic outings off the LRC's grounds. Code 3 status allows a patient to go on therapeutic outings off the LRC's grounds under supervision where the staff/patient ratio is at least 2:10. These outings include trips to the circus, basketball games, swimming at available facilities, and attending picnics or movies in the Lincoln community. Appellant's code 2 status has been judicially modified to permit appellant to go on therapeutic outings off the LRC's grounds under at least one-on-one supervision of a staff member. However, the LRC must notify local law enforcement agencies before taking appellant on these outings. At the hearing, the State called as witnesses the heads of three law enforcement agencies covering the jurisdiction of Lancaster County, where the LRC is located. These witnesses were Tussing, the superintendent of the State Patrol; Lacey, the Lancaster County Attorney; and Casady, the chief of the Lincoln Police Department. Each of these law enforcement officials testified, over the relevance, foundation, and lack of personal knowledge objections of appellant's counsel, that in his opinion appellant's request to be upgraded from modified code 2 to code 3 should be denied due to public safety concerns. The State also called as a witness the LRC's medical records manager. She testified to the number and categories of recent escapes from the LRC. Her testimony is not challenged by appellant. Appellant's two expert witnesses, and four employees of the LRC, testified in favor of upgrading appellant's status. The three law enforcement officials testified that they do not have day-to-day contact with appellant and do not have access to his treatment records. Thus, these witnesses based their opinion testimony upon various hearsay sources, rather than personal perceptions as required by Neb.Evid.R. 701, and therefore were not testifying as lay witnesses. If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise. Neb.Evid.R. 702. As previously discussed, if the facts or data upon which an expert bases an opinion are of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the particular field in forming such opinions, the facts or data need not be admissible in evidence. Rule 703. No attempt was made to qualify these law enforcement officials as experts in the fields of psychology or psychiatry or to have these officials testify in terms of appellant's mental illness or dangerousness. Their testimony was confined to terms of public safety in response to appellant's request to have his status at the LRC upgraded. The duties of all three witnesses deal with coordinating and protecting public safety. Because the record reflects that all three witnesses are experienced, educated, and trained in the area of public safety, they clearly possess specialized knowledge and are qualified as expert witnesses on the subject. Having determined these witnesses qualify as experts on public safety pursuant to evidence rule 702, we turn to three other issues which must be resolved before ultimately determining whether such expert testimony was admissible evidence: (1) whether the experts' testimony was relevant; (2) whether the experts' testimony assisted the trier of fact to understand the evidence or determine a controverted factual issue; and (3) whether the experts' testimony, even though relevant and admissible, should have been excluded in light of Neb.Evid.R. 403. See, State v. Chambers, 241 Neb. 66, 486 N.W.2d 481 (1992); State v. Reynolds, 235 Neb. 662, 457 N.W.2d 405 (1990). Relevant evidence is evidence having a tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Neb.Evid.R. 401. The express wording of § 29-3703 makes clear that courts are to consider public safety when determining what conditions of liberty and monitoring to place upon a person found to be mentally ill and dangerous. Thus, the opinion testimony of the State's experts concerning the impact an upgrade in appellant's status from modified code 2 to code 3 could have upon public safety was relevant evidence. Furthermore, such testimony assisted the trier of fact in understanding the evidence and determining the outcome of this controverted status issue raised by appellant. Moreover, it cannot be said that the probative value of this relevant evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, misleading of the fact finder, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. See rule 403. This testimony was probative on the issue of public safety. There is no indication that the testimony was applied by the district court, as the trier of fact, outside the public safety context. Thus, the district court did not err by permitting these three law enforcement officials to testify concerning public safety in relation to a proposed upgrade in appellant's status at the LRC.