Court Opinion

ID: 9710463
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:10:17.144449+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:57.061954
License: Public Domain

CAPPY, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent as I believe that the courts below did not abuse their discretion when they determined that the expert’s testimony was speculative and therefore inadmissible.
It is axiomatic that “the fundamental consideration in determining the admissibility of evidence is whether the proffered evidence is relevant to the fact sought to be proved. Evidence is relevant if it tends to make a fact at issue more or less probable.” Martin v. Soblotney, 502 Pa. 418, 422, 466 A.2d 1022, 1024 (1983). When considering whether expert testimony is admissible, a trial court is cautioned to allow into evidence only that testimony which aids the jury in deciding the case before it. Commonwealth v. Terry, 513 Pa. 381, 399, 521 A.2d 398, 407 (1987). In reviewing a trial court’s determination on the admissibility of expert testimony, we have steadfastly adhered to the rule that such determinations are within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Petrovich, 538 Pa. 369, 372, 648 A.2d 771, 772 (1994).
In the matter sub judice, the expert presented no testimony that would make a material fact “more or less probable” as she was unable to opine what the absence of physical evidence meant. The expert stated that the negative rape test kit could indicate that any number of scenarios occurred, including that there had been no penetration, or penetration with no ejaculation, or penetration with ejaculation elsewhere, or penetration with ejaculation and the sample was lost. Notes of Testimony, February 8, 1994, at 115-119. This testimony gave a list of *82possibilities which included virtually every possible scenario without any indication as to whether one of these scenarios was more likely than the other. As the lower courts recognized, such speculative testimony would not aid the jury in its task of determining whether sexual intercourse did occur here. Therefore, I believe that the lower courts did not abuse their discretion when they held that the testimony was irrelevant.
The majority reasons that this speculative testimony was nonetheless admissible because this court has stated that inconclusiveness of an expert’s opinion does not alone render it inadmissible. Majority slip op. at 10. In support of this proposition, the majority relies upon Commonwealth v. Crews, 536 Pa. 508, 640 A.2d 395 (1994).
I agree with the majority that Crews states that a lack of conclusiveness in an expert’s testimony does not automatically preclude the admission of this testimony. Yet, I do not see that this holding aids the majority here. In Crews, the prosecution’s expert tendered his opinion on the similarities between the DNA patterns found in seminal fluid recovered from the murder victim and the defendant’s DNA patterns. The expert did not state with certainty that the DNA patterns in the seminal fluid were a perfect match with the defendant’s DNA patterns. The expert was, however, able to form an opinion that the seminal sample taken from the murder victim had three of four markers in common with the DNA of the defendant. This court concluded that this testimony was relevant, even though it was inconclusive, because it tended to make defendant’s presence at the crime scene more probable. Id. at-, 640 A.2d at 402.
Our holding in Crews that an inconclusive expert opinion may still be admissible so long as it tends to make a material fact more or less probable did nothing more than restate the general rule of relevancy in a particular context. I cannot agree with the majority that Crews somehow sanctions the admission of the testimony at issue here since the expert’s opinion in no manner made it more or less probable that sexual intercourse occurred.
*83Finally, because I believe that this expert’s testimony was speculative and therefore inadmissible, I would not address the broader issue of whether negative rape test kit evidence is generally relevant in establishing whether sexual intercourse had occurred. I would leave the determination of that issue for a case where the expert was able to testify in a non-speculative manner.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.