Opinion ID: 1676660
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Scientific Expert Testimony

Text: For its second point for reversal, Farm Bureau argues that the trial court erred in refusing to allow Trooper Doug Estes, an investigator with the Arkansas State Police, to testify regarding the alleged superior ability of his canine partner, Benjamin, to detect the presence of accelerants after a fire. Estes testified that as a result of his training, Benjamin has the ability to discriminate between different types of chemicals, so that when the dog alerts on a particular spot at a fire scene, it signifies the presence of accelerants. Estes stated that Benjamin has been trained extensively in this area and was required to test at an accuracy rate of 100 percent in order to receive his certification. Estes stated further that it has been proven in numerous cases that a dog's nose is more sensitive than the laboratory equipment used by forensic chemists. He stated that a dog's nose can detect 300 parts per billion, while the laboratory tests detect 100 parts per million. The source of his information was a master's thesis written by Kevin Lockridge, the purported director of the Florida State Crime Laboratory. Farm Bureau offered this testimony to explain why the dog made five hits, while the chemist only detected measurable amounts of accelerants in two samples. The trial court denied admission of the proffered testimony based on the holding in Daubert, 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469. This court has not previously adopted the holding in Daubert . We do so now. In Daubert, 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469, the petitioners urged the Court to dispose of the test established in Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C.Cir.1923), which provided that expert opinion based on a scientific technique is inadmissible unless the technique is `generally accepted' as reliable in the relevant scientific community. 509 U.S. at 584, 113 S.Ct. 2786. They contended that the Frye test had been superseded by the adoption of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Court agreed and established the following inquiry to be conducted by the trial court: Faced with a proffer of expert scientific testimony, then, the trial judge must determine at the outset, pursuant to Rule 104(a), whether the expert is proposing to testify to (1) scientific knowledge that (2) will assist the trier of fact to understand or determine a fact in issue. This entails a preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue. Id. at 592-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786 (footnotes omitted). The Court concluded that a key consideration is whether the scientific theory or technique can be or has been tested. Other considerations include whether the theory or technique has been subjected to peer review and publication, the potential rate of error, and the existence and maintenance of standards controlling the technique's operation. Additionally, the Court recognized that general acceptance in the scientific community can have a bearing on the inquiry. The Court emphasized that the inquiry envisioned by Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which is identical to our Rule 702, is a flexible one: Its overarching subject is the scientific validityand thus the evidentiary relevance and reliabilityof the principles that underlie a proposed submission. The focus, of course, must be solely on principles and methodology, not on the conclusions that they generate. Id. at 594-95, 113 S.Ct. 2786 (footnote omitted). Two years before the Court's decision in Daubert , this court adopted a strikingly similar approach to the admission of novel scientific expert testimony in Prater v. State, 307 Ark. 180, 820 S.W.2d 429 (1991). This approach, based on Arkansas Rules of Evidence 401, 402, and 702, requires the trial court to conduct a preliminary inquiry focusing on (1) the reliability of the novel process used to generate the evidence, (2) the possibility that admitting the evidence would overwhelm, confuse, or mislead the jury, and (3) the connection between the evidence to be offered and the disputed factual issues in the particular case. Under this approach, reliability is the critical element. There are a number of factors that bear upon reliability, including the novelty of the new technique, its relationship to more established modes of scientific analysis, the existence of specialized literature dealing with the technique, the qualifications and professional stature of expert witnesses, and the non-judicial uses to which the scientific techniques are put. Id. at 186, 820 S.W.2d at 431 (citing Andrews v. State, 533 So.2d 841 (Fla.Dist.Ct. App.1988) (citing United States v. Downing, 753 F.2d at 1238-39, and Weinstein & Berger, Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 702[03] (1991))). In the present case, we conclude that the proffered testimony concerning the dog's alleged superior ability to detect the presence of accelerants does not pass muster using either the Daubert or Prater analysis. Farm Bureau simply did not make any showing regarding the scientific validity of the evidence. For instance, Estes did not produce the study allegedly conducted by Lockridge, so there was no way of ascertaining the techniques used or the potential rate of error. There was no evidence that this scientific theory had ever been tested or subjected to peer review, or that it had been otherwise embraced by the particular scientific community. In short, Farm Bureau, as the proponent of the novel scientific evidence, failed to carry its burden of proof on the issue of reliability. See Houston v. State, 321 Ark. 598, 906 S.W.2d 286 (1995). We thus the affirm the trial court's ruling.