Court Opinion

ID: 9733059
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:51:52.297064+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:38.084428
License: Public Domain

HABHAB, Judge
(specially concurring).
I concur in the result only. I disagree with the majority’s findings that it was improper to permit expert testimony regarding common practices of drug traffickers in Des Moines. I believe such evidence is admissible to determine whether defendant’s actions fit within the modus operan-di. The expert witnesses (police officers) were not asked whether the defendant was guilty or innocent.
I agree that it is improper for an expert to testify that a quantity of drugs was possessed by a criminal defendant “with intent to deliver.” State v. Oppedal, 232 N.W.2d 517, 524 (Iowa 1975). Such testimony is deemed “tantamount to permitting the witness to testify he had an opinion as to the ultimate fact of defendant’s guilt or innocence.” Id.
But it is permissible for a witness to testify as to the pattern or modus operandi of a certain offense and compare the facts of the case to it. State v. Olsen, 315 N.W.2d 1, 6-7 (Iowa 1982).
The distinction is that, on the one hand, the witness is asked for an opinion based upon certain evidence as it relates to a well-defined modus operandi and on the other, an opinion on the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The former is proper; the latter is not.
Id. at 7.
There is not much question that it is proper to establish the modus operandi of a drug trafficker or drug user by expert testimony. It is also permissible to elicit expert testimony as to the “next step” of whether defendant’s actions fit within the modus operandi. State v. Burrell, 255 N.W.2d 119, 123 (Iowa 1977).
In Burrell, the defendant objected to the specific question regarding the profit to be made from dealing in heroin. The following questions and answers appear in that case:
Q. What do you mean by bag? Q. Little plastic bags and they usually contain 25 sometimes 15 $25 bags to sell.
Q. Is there any profit that can be made in this?
MR. PARRISH: Objection. Invades the province of the jury. Prejudicial. It calls for the opinion and conclusion of the witness, no proper foundation.

Id.

The court overruled the objection. The defendant contends this question and its answer conveyed the witness’s opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant on the accommodation element. The supreme court stated:
The question asked does not address the particulars of the case, but rather seeks to define a modus operandi. This court has approved the question which goes one step further, that is, did defendant’s actions fit within the modus operandi, so long as the witness is not asked whether the defendant is innocent or guilty. State v. Johnson, 224 N.W.2d 617, 622 (Iowa 1974). The question in this case fits the category of opinion testimony, and as such was properly admitted.

Id.

Our supreme court in State v. Olsen, 315 N.W.2d 1, 7 (Iowa 1982), stated:
We have held that, while a witness may not testify whether marijuana is held for personal use, State v. Oppedal, 232 N.W.2d 517, 524 (Iowa 1975), he may testify on the pattern or modus operan-di of a certain offense and compare the facts of the case to it, State v. Burrell, 255 N.W.2d 119, 123 (Iowa 1977); State v. Johnson, 224 N.W.2d 617, 622 (Iowa 1974). The distinction is that, on the one hand, the witness is asked for an opinion based upon certain evidence as it relates to a well-defined modus operandi and on the other, an opinion on the guilt or *170innocence of the defendant. The former is proper; the latter is not. State v. Johnson, 224 N.W.2d at 622-23. We have said this line of distinction, while fine, is nevertheless essential. Id. at 622; State v. Horton, 231 N.W.2d 36, 38 (Iowa 1975). Thus, we held in State v. Burrell, 255 N.W.2d at 123, that an-opinion on “whether or not profit can be made from this type of operation” was proper:
“The question asked does not address the particulars of the case, but rather seeks to define a modus operandi. This court has approved the question which goes one step further, that is, did defendant’s actions fit within the modus oper-andi, so long as the witness is not asked whether the defendant is innocent or guilty.”
The opinions tendered here, that a profit may have been realized under the facts, and that the acts were consistent with an operation for profit, were properly admitted as comparisons to the typical modus operandi and not as opinions on guilt or innocence.
This is exactly the kind of evidence of which the defendant now complains. Both officers testified to their qualifications as experts in this field, a fact which is now unchallenged by defendant. Each then testified, based on his specialized training and experience in arresting hundreds of people on like charges and executing numerous searches for such items, that the evidence found at defendant’s home was consistent with drug dealing.
Iowa law allows an expert to testify as to what the usual modus operandi of an offender is and whether the facts of the particular case fit the modus operandi. That is precisely what occurred in defendant’s case. I would not find the testimony complained of to be objectionable.
DONIELSON, P.J., joins this special concurrence.