Opinion ID: 1751529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: whether the trial court erred in allowing lay witness, billy joe estes, to give his opinion regarding fingerprint evidence?

Text: Mack contends that the trial court erred when it permitted Billy Joe Estes, chief investigator for the Bolivar County Sheriff's Department, to testify that he could not raise any fingerprints from a pipe that Mack used to strike Fulton. Mack raises this error even though it was Mack who questioned Estes about raising the fingerprints. Mack opened the door for the prosecutor to question Estes on redirect as though he were an expert because the defense counsel on cross-examination accepted Estes' answer that he was an expert in the area of fingerprinting and questioned him as though he had been qualified and tendered as an expert. See, Hansen v. State, 592 So.2d 114 (Miss. 1991). There is no merit in Mack's contention that the trial court erred in this instance.