Opinion ID: 2295615
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: This Testimony

Text: In Watts the Court said, It must appear that the witness had adequate opportunity for forming a rational conclusion, since the mere opinions of witnesses are entitled to little or no regard unless they are founded on facts which warrant them in the opinion of the jury. Id. 99 Md. at 36. Accordingly, the testimony of Officer Thompson would not be admissible if it were an opinion. This is because the period of his observation was not sufficient under Watts and our other prior cases for him to have acquired an adequate basis for his conclusion. We do not, however, regard the statement to the effect that Conn did not seem to be suffering from any kind of illness as a conclusion. This testimony was nothing more than a declaration by the officer that he observed Conn's crying and, although Conn appeared to be grief stricken, there were no outward manifestations of his suffering from any kind of illness, that he was so detached from his surroundings as to be unaware of that which was said to him, or that he was not fit of mind. Accordingly, the trial judge was correct when he overruled the objection to the comment on illness stating, That he observed.