Court Opinion

ID: 9551252
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:50:08.124019+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:24.385046
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice
(concurring).
I perceive an additional dimension to the issue presented with respect to the testimony of Officer Olson which is alluded to in the majority opinion. Respectable case authority exists for permitting a lay witness to express an opinion or conclusion such as the one complained of in this case. McPherson v. Martin, 234 Ala. 244, 174 So. 791 (1937); Madison v. State, 40 Ala.App. 62, 109 So.2d 749 (1958), cert. den. 268 Ala. 699, 109 So.2d 755 (1959); Jewel Tea Co. v. McCrary, 197 Ark. 294, 122 S.W.2d 534 (1938); Sikes v. Wilson, 74 Ga.App. 415, 39 S.E.2d 902 (1946); Weilbrenner v. Owens, 246 Iowa 580, 68 N.W.2d 293 (1955); Lambert v. Caronna, 206 N.C. 616, 175 S.E. 303 (1934); Duran v. Mueller, 79 Nev. 453, 386 P.2d 733 (1963).
Modern theories of the law of evidence exemplified by Rule 701 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and Rule 56(1) of the Uniform Rules of Evidence lend credence to these cases, and manifest a bias in favor of admissibility. See McCormick, Evidence, § 11, pp. 22-26 (2nd Ed. 1972). The modem approach favoring admissibility was recognized by this Court in Krahn v. Pierce, Wyo., 485 P.2d 1021 (1971). Permitting a lay witness to state an opinion such as this under the proper circumstances would constitute a logical and reasonable extension of Krahn v. Pierce, supra, and would justify the exercise of the trial court’s discretion relating to eviden-tiary rulings to the end of admitting such testimony.
If the circumstances justifying the admission of such an opinion were not deemed to be present, counsel needed to call that to the attention of the trial court' by a more specific objection stating the reasons that the testimony was not rationally based on the perception of the witness or that it would not be helpful to a clear understanding of his testimony and to a determination of a fact in issue. For this additional reason, then, I would hold the objection made to be without that specificity which is needed to preserve error for appeal in the face of an adverse ruling.