Court Opinion

ID: 9663034
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:26:22.628512+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:45.057724
License: Public Domain

*727Grant, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent on two points. First, I believe that the testimony of the chief of the Schuyler Volunteer Fire Department was inadmissible as that of an expert when he testified that his opinion as to the cause of the fire was that “I suspected arson at that particular time.” While defendant did not move to strike the answer, I believe that the answer was so prejudicial as to require reversal. If the chief’s opinion was that the cause of the fire was arson, a different question would be presented. I do not reach that question. If in a criminal case an alleged expert witness is permitted to testify that at the time of a fire, after making observations about the affected building and the nature of the fire, he suspects arson, we have opened the door to a flood of expert suspicions that are particularly prejudicial in a criminal case.
The danger of allowing this sort of answer is pointed out by the next question propounded by the State’s counsel: “Why was it that you had that suspicion?” This question was answered by the chief, “Because of the involvement of the building in the elapsed time that I was there.”
The word “suspect” is defined in part in Black’s Law Dictionary 1297 (5th ed. 1979) as follows: “To have a slight or even vague idea concerning; — not necessarily involving knowledge or belief or likelihood.” “Suspicion” is defined in the same dictionary at 1298 as follows: “The act of suspecting, or the state of being suspected; imagination, generally of something ill; distrust; mistrust; doubt. The apprehension of something without proof or upon slight evidence. Suspicion implies a belief or opinion based upon facts or circumstances which do not amount to proof.”
I do not believe that even an expert’s suspicions have any place in a criminal trial. In none of the chief’s testimony is there any opinion, firm or otherwise, as to the cause of the fire. If “suspicions” are held admissible in a criminal case, it seems that the day is not far distant when in a civil case an expert will testify that he “suspects negligence.” I believe that in this case the chief’s “suspicions” are not admissible and that the admission of such testimony was reversible error.
*728I also believe that defendant’s motion for mistrial because of the admission of evidence as to defendant’s intoxication should have been granted. Defendant’s employee Lynn Steffensmeier was called by the State apparently for the primary purpose of establishing that before the fire defendant did not order certain amounts of liquor usually ordered in the course of defendant’s business. The employee also testified that while the fire was being fought, she saw defendant drinking at the home of a mutual friend with the employee and other friends. The employee was specifically asked, “Did you have occasion to observe him putting on his coat to leave?” Over defendant’s objection, the witness answered, “When Lex [defendant] left, he had quite a bit of drink and he put his coat on inside out.” This question as to a specific incident is irrelevant, immaterial, and prejudicial to defendant.
Further, the State then established that the employee-witness had in the past consumed alcohol, knew “the effect and feel that it gives you,” had observed people that the witness knew were “under the influence,” and knew how they would act. Having thus established the employee as an expert, the State inquired, “Would you have an opinion on whether or not the defendant was at that time that you are describing intoxicated?” Over objection, the witness answered, “Yes, I would say so.” The subject of intoxication was then dropped.
Defendant contended that this evidence was not relevant. I agree. Relevant evidence is defined in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-401 (Reissue 1979) as evidence “having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” I cannot see how evidence of defendant’s specific acts and intoxication at 4 a.m. the morning after the fire tends to prove anything except that defendant had consumed too much alcohol. The State’s contention in its brief that this evidence “is consistent with the conclusion that [defendant] was disinterested in monitoring the firefighters’ efforts since he had intentionally set the fire for the purpose of collecting insurance money” (Brief for Appellee at 14) only shows that inferences descend to suspicions when based on irrelevant facts. An equally plausible “inference” would be that *729defendant was so distraught at seeing his business go up in flames that he, unfortunately, turned to strong drink. Since there was no other evidence as to the reason for defendant’s drinking, I do not believe that the court should let a jury flip a coin, in effect, to decide what that behavior means.
The difficult question to me in this connection is whether the admission of such evidence was prejudicial. I believe that the evidence is prejudicial, given the growing, warranted concerns of this State and its individual citizens as to drinking alcoholic liquor and driving and what I feel is the inevitable spread of those concerns to many aspects of drinking at all. There is no lawyer worth his salt who does not delight in establishing that the opposing party has become intoxicated in any connection with any incident before any jury. It is the duty of the courts to keep such evidence from the jury unless the intoxication is relevant to the issue at hand.
The State, in its brief, cites State v. Martin, 198 Neb. 811, 255 N.W.2d 844 (1977), as holding that it is proper in a criminal case to show circumstances such as defendant’s conduct, demeanor, statements, and relation to the crime. Martin does state that, but that case specifically holds only that a statement made by defendant to a victim’s mother that “he [defendant] didn’t mean to shoot her [the victim], he just meant to nick her,” is admissible to show a shooting was deliberate, not accidental. That does not concern “demeanor” at all.
The case is close. Defendant’s conviction is based on circumstantial evidence proved by expert witnesses and is disputed by defendant by evidence including that of an expert witness. I would reverse and remand for a new trial.