Court Opinion

ID: 9627132
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:35:21.903092+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:40.121004
License: Public Domain

Justice ERICKSON
dissenting:
I join Justice Kirshbaum’s dissent. Chief Justice Quinn’s special concurrence points out the difficulty of determining from the record whether the trial judge’s ruling on the competency of Dr. Lantz to testify as an expert witness constituted an abuse of discretion. At 801. The court of appeals with a 2-1 division concluded that it was an abuse of discretion. People v. Williams, 761 P.2d 258 (Colo.App.1988). Our court is also divided in reviewing the foundation laid to qualify Dr. Lantz as a firearms expert.
*802Dr. Lantz had previously qualified and testified as an expert in firearms identification in about ten other cases. The foundation qualifying Dr. Lantz as a firearms expert was minimal and not an example to be followed. However, the gravity of the charge and the qualifications of Dr. Lantz convince me that the failure to permit him to testify as a firearms expert under the facts in this case was an abuse of discretion which requires a new trial.