Opinion ID: 2264062
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Gunshot Residue

Text: Next, defendant challenges the trial justice's decision to allow Robert O'Brien (O'Brien), a supervising criminalist in the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, to testify concerning whether he found gunshot residue on defendant's clothes. O'Brien first testified on the standards for assessing gunshot residue. The tested particles can result in one of three findings: (1) positive for gunshot residue, (2) consistent with gunshot residue, or (3) negative for gunshot residue. O'Brien later testified, over defendant's objection, that his test for gunshot residue on defendant's jacket determined that one or two particles on the left sleeve    could be consistent with gunshot residue. Citing numerous cases from other jurisdictions for the proposition that the science of gunshot residue testing is unreliable, defendant argues that O'Brien's testimony should not have been allowed. A trial justice is afforded wide discretion in connection with the admission of expert testimony. State v. Griffin, 691 A.2d 556, 558 (R.I.1997). This Court has held previously that the admission of expert testimony on the issue of gunshot residue did not amount to an abuse of discretion. State v. Gomes, 764 A.2d 125, 135 (R.I.2001). Furthermore, we disagree with defendant that the witness's use of the word could in his answer necessarily implies that his testimony was improper. We require experts to testify with a reasonable degree of certainty. State v. Lima, 546 A.2d 770, 773 (R.I.1988). Our examination of O'Brien's testimony reveals that he used the word could to contrast other portions of his testimony in which he concluded with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that particles on an article of clothing were positively identified as gunshot residue. Since the trial justice would have been well within her discretion to make a similar determination regarding this expert witness, she did not commit reversible error on this issue. E