Opinion ID: 766256
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Officer Snavely's Expert Testimony

Text: 28 Harris next contends that the district court erred in admitting Officer Snavely's expert opinion testimony as to the methods and operations of street level drug dealers. The question of admissibility of expert testimony is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, 118 S.Ct. 512, 139 L.Ed.2d 508 (1997). 29 Harris argues that the amount of crack cocaine found on his person (approximately 5.9 grams) was for his own personal consumption, and that the government should not have been permitted to introduce that portion of Officer Snavely's testimony which described the methods and operations of street level drug dealers. Harris claims that the district court did not properly determine the reliability of Officer Snavely's expert opinion testimony and that the testimony should therefore not have been admitted. 30 In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 2795, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), the Supreme Court held that Federal Rule of Evidence 702 placed a special obligation upon the trial court to ensure that any and all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable. And although Daubert was restricted by its facts to scientific testimony, this Circuit has broadly applied Daubert's relevance and reliability analysis to all evidence offered under Rule 702. See, e.g., United States v. Jones, 107 F.3d 1147, 1156 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1127, 117 S.Ct. 2527, 138 L.Ed.2d 1027 (1997); United States v.Thomas, 74 F.3d 676, 681 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1162, 116 S.Ct. 1558, 134 L.Ed.2d 659 (1996); Berry v. City of Detroit, 25 F.3d 1342, 1350 (6th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1111, 115 S.Ct. 902, 130 L.Ed.2d 786 (1995). Moreover, the Supreme Court, in Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, --U.S.--, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 1176, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999), recently broadened the Daubert analysis to specifically include technical as well as other specialized knowledge,  such as that possessed by Officer Snavely. 31 We find this case analogous to Thomas, where a police detective was permitted to testify as both a fact and an expert witness. In response to Thomas's argument that the detective's testimony about the usual methods and operations of drug traffickers was unnecessary, a panel of this court wrote, Courts have overwhelmingly found police officers' expert testimony admissible where it will aid the jury's understanding of an area, such as drug dealing, not within the experience of the average juror. Id. at 682. We find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing Officer Snavely's expert opinion testimony about the significance of Harris's observed behavior.