Opinion ID: 882840
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: testimony concerning accident reconstruction

Text: The defendant contends that Officer Schumacher did not hold herself out as an expert in accident reconstruction when she was interviewed on April 3, 1992, and that her testimony at trial was a surprise. However, Officer Schumacher testified that she had always been in a position to testify concerning reconstruction of the accident but when she tried to provide her opinions at her interview with the defense on April 3, 1992, she was not given the opportunity to do so by the defendant's counsel. She also stated that she never said she was not going to reconstruct the accident but that she had not reconstructed the accident at the time of the interview with defense counsel. We note that the defendant did not provide this Court with a transcript of the April 3, 1992 interview of Officer Schumacher for our own examination. This Court is left to speculate as to why the defendant would argue that the officer's testimony went beyond the parameters of the interview and then fail to provide the necessary transcript of that interview for our review. Under the Montana Rules of Evidence, the trial court is given wide latitude in determining whether to admit opinion testimony of investigative officers. Leeway is allowed in such instances, and provided that the cross examiner is given adequate opportunity to elicit any assumptions or facts underlying the expert's opinion, the weight to be given the testimony is for the trier of fact to determine. [Emphasis supplied.] Campbell v. Johnson (1991), 251 Mont. 12, 15-16, 823 P.2d 237, 239, citing Cline v. Durden (1990), 246 Mont. 154, 803 P.2d 1077.