Opinion ID: 187186
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Expert Testimony of Detective Thomas

Text: All three defendants contest the admission of Detective Tyrone Thomas's expert testimony about the typical operations of narcotics dealers, arguing that it was testimonial hearsay admitted in violation of the Sixth Amendment as interpreted in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). Because the defendants did not object to Thomas's testimony at trial, we review the admission of the testimony only for plain error. See FED.R.CRIM.P. 52(b); United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 731-37, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). Defendants have shown no error, much less plain error, becauseas we have previously held Crawford does not limit the admissibility of expert witness testimony. In Crawford, the Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment bars the introduction of testimonial out-of-court statements by witnesses who are not subject to cross-examination. See 541 U.S. at 68-69, 124 S.Ct. 1354. The three defendants argue that Detective Thomas formed his opinion about the typical operations of narcotics dealers over the course of thousands of interviews, and that his testimony is in reality the testimony of thousands of out-of-court witnesses who were not subject to cross-examination. But as this court has previously explained (in a case involving this same expert), Crawford did not involve expert witness testimony and thus did not alter an expert witness's ability to rely on (without repeating to the jury) otherwise inadmissible evidence in formulating his opinion under Federal Rule of Evidence 703. United States v. Henry, 472 F.3d 910, 914 (D.C.Cir.2007). Here, as in Henry, Thomas testified based on his experience as a narcotics investigator; he did not relate statements by out-of-court declarants to the jury. We therefore find that admission of Thomas's testimony was not error, much less plain error.