Opinion ID: 1111241
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Officer Chandler's Opinion Testimony

Text: The majority opinion correctly analyzes why Officer Chandler's opinion testimony that Mrs. Whittington was not killed in the wreck was objectionable. Chandler was not shown to have any special qualifications to express such an opinion as an expert; likewise, even as an expert, he gave no basis for his opinion. Furthermore, Chandler's opinion does not meet the criteria set out in M.R.E. 701. His opinion that Mrs. Whittington was not killed in the accident was not based on his firsthand knowledge or observation  it was merely a conjecture on his part as he viewed the scene of the accident. The opinion was not helpful to the jury in understanding the issue in the case. It merely told the jury how the case should be decided, thereby shifting responsibility for decision from the jury to the witness. See Owen v. Kerr-McGee Corporation, 698 F.2d 236, 240 (5th Cir.1983) (testimony which allows witnesses to tell the jury what result to reach is not admissible); United States v. Phillips, 600 F.2d 535, 538 (5th Cir.1979) (dicta suggesting that opinion testimony which chooses up sides is inadmissible); see also McCormick on Evidence, §§ 11, 12 (E. Cleary, 3rd Ed. 1984). Allowing such a shifting of the jury's responsibility cannot be deemed harmless error. In the first place, such conclusion was not obvious and inescapable as was the case in Askin v. State, 178 Ga. App. 810, 344 S.E.2d 699, 700 (1986), cited by the majority. In the second place, it cannot be harmless error where, as here, an officer of the law sits on the stand in his uniform and offers his conjecture as to how Mrs. Whittington died. Such a witness is undeniably a very influential witness, and the defendant had no witness equally as influential to place on the stand to rebut such a conjecture. The majority opinion begs the question when it finds Chandler's opinion testimony harmless error because his testimony was followed by that of Dr. McCormick who offered, from an expert's standpoint, the opinion that Mrs. Whittington was not killed in the automobile accident. Whittington was also able to offer the expert testimony of a forensic pathologist that Mrs. Whittington died in the automobile accident. The point remains, however, that Whittington would never be able to produce the kind of influential witness as was Officer Chandler to rebut his conjecture that she did not die from the accident. In effect, after Chandler's opinion testimony, the burden of proof shifted from the state to prove that Mrs. Whittington did not die in the accident, to Mr. Whittington to prove that she did. See United States v. Bass, 425 F.2d 161, 164 (7th Cir.1970). The prejudice to the defendant by allowing such opinion testimony was not cured, nor was it curable. Therefore, this case should be reversed and remanded with instructions that Officer Chandler not be allowed to testify at re-trial as to his highly conjectural statement that Mrs. Whittington was not killed in the accident.