Court Opinion

ID: 9559652
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:33:07.198624+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:28.578048
License: Public Domain

Justice VOLLACK
dissenting:
The majority holds that the record does not permit this court to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in excluding the testimony of Dr. Dean Plazak (Dr. Plazak). The majority remands the case to the trial court to conduct further proceedings with respect to the prosecution’s motion in limine to exclude Dr. Pla-zak’s testimony. I disagree. I believe that the record reveals a sufficient basis to support the trial court’s exercise of discretion, and further proceedings will not create any additional new facts to determine whether Dr. Plazak’s testimony is admissible under CRE 702. I therefore dissent from the majority’s remand of the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
I.
The defendant Brad Lanari spoke with his estranged wife, Elizabeth Lanari (Beth), early in the morning and at 12:30 p.m. on June 10, 1986, when she informed him of her involvement with the defendant’s friend, Mark Ferguson (Mark). Even though Beth previously had a restraining order against the defendant, she invited him to meet her and Mark at Mark’s house later that day, at 7:00 p.m. Having not spoken to Beth in over one month, the defendant agreed.
The defendant left Brighton well before the scheduled meeting time. He had a gun in his possession when he left. He stopped and visited one friend and stopped again at Annette Ferguson’s house, Mark’s former wife. The defendant felt depressed and eventually broke down in front of Annette. As he left her house, he apologized to her for what he “was about to put [her] through.”
The defendant arrived at the meeting place, Mark’s house, and saw Beth cooking dinner. The defendant observed Mark touch Beth when asking her if she wanted a drink. The defendant sat down at a table, where Mark and Beth eventually joined him and discussed the status of their relationships. During the course of the ensuing discussion, Beth asked the defendant why he was wearing a heavy coat. The defendant then pulled out the gun. Mark flipped the table up and Beth threw her drink in the defendant’s face. The defendant then shot Mark, who in turn fled the house. The defendant followed Mark outside and fatally shot him. The defendant returned to the house where he found Beth hiding underneath a counter. The defendant dragged Beth out from under the counter and into another room where he shot her. The defendant left the house and drove to Mexico.
II.
The defendant was arraigned on June 17, 1986, and a preliminary hearing was held before Judge Hays on July 31, 1986. In November of 1986, Dr. Plazak met with the defendant twice, and, on November 19, the defendant endorsed Dr. Plazak as an expert witness. After receiving the endorsement, the prosecution arranged to meet with Dr. Plazak for one hour. Dr. Plazak charged the prosecution $125 an hour for his time.
On December 11, 1986, the prosecution filed a pretrial motion in limine to exclude *507Dr. Plazak’s testimony on the grounds that the subject matter as to which Dr. Plazak might testify—the various elements of manslaughter by heat of passion—did not require expert testimony. The prosecution also argued that the testimony would not be relevant and that there was not a sufficiently reliable body of scientific information supporting Dr. Plazak’s anticipated testimony.
On December 12, the prosecution filed a pretrial motion to compel disclosure of Dr. Plazak’s notes and records relating to the two occasions when Dr. Plazak examined the defendant.
Judge Hays heard argument on the motions on December 19. During the proceedings, Judge Hays identified three areas in which Dr. Plazak might testify: an opinion as to whether the defendant acted under the heat of passion on June 10; general testimony as to what acts are likely to induce passion in a reasonable person; and the content of the defendant’s statements to Dr. Plazak. Judge Hays then asked the defendant to identify the areas in which Dr. Plazak would testify, and the defendant replied all three.
In support of their motion in limine, the prosecution again argued that jurors could apply the law of manslaughter by heat of passion without the assistance of expert testimony and that the anticipated testimony was not sufficiently grounded in scientific fact. In response, the defendant argued that there was a basis in Colorado law for admitting expert testimony to assist jurors in analyzing manslaughter by heat of passion charges, and that there was a scientific basis for Dr. Plazak’s anticipated testimony.
With respect to the motion to compel disclosure, the prosecution informed Judge Hays that they met with Dr. Plazak but that Dr. Plazak did not prepare a written report regarding the defendant’s case because neither the prosecution nor the defendant could afford to pay Dr. Plazak his $600 fee for a written report. Judge Hays observed that Dr. Plazak was “playing his cards very close to his chest,” and got the impression that Dr. Plazak was not revealing anything.
Judge Hays issued an oral ruling on the motion in limine approximately one week after argument. At the outset of his oral ruling, Judge Hays noted that neither the defendant nor the prosecution had disclosed the exact nature of Dr. Plazak’s testimony. Judge Hays knew that Dr. Pla-zak met with the defendant twice and with the prosecution once. Judge Hays continued his oral ruling by reciting the elements of manslaughter by heat of passion. He identified the issue as whether expert testimony was relevant to determining whether acts “were sufficient to excite an irresistible passion in a reasonable person.” Judge Hays appropriately stated that, under the Colorado Rules of Evidence, expert testimony is only admissible when it will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.
In his oral ruling, Judge Hays thoroughly reviewed authorities cited by both sides, and granted the prosecution’s motion in limine to exclude Dr. Plazak’s testimony. Judge Hays based his oral ruling on the grounds that the subject matter of manslaughter by heat of passion was within the knowledge and experience of people of ordinary intelligence and that “Dr. Plazak’s proposed testimony does not meet the test for admissibility of expert opinion.”
III.
Whether a defendant has committed manslaughter by heat of passion turns on whether: “(1) the act causing the death was performed upon a ‘sudden heat of passion,’ (2) caused by a ‘serious and highly provoking act of the intended victim,’ (3) which was sufficient ‘to excite an irresistible passion in a reasonable person,’ and (4) between the provocation and the killing, an insufficient ‘interval’ of time passed for ‘the voice of reason and humanity to be heard.’ ” Coston v. People, 633 P.2d 470, 472 (Colo.1981) (citing § 18-3-104(1)(c), 8 C.R.S. (1978)).
In my view, a jury would not need expert testimony in order to ascertain whether these, elements were met in this case. Thus, Judge Hays, based on the record *508before him at the time of the ruling, did not abuse his discretion in excluding Dr. Pla-zak’s testimony.
As the majority notes, admission of expert testimony is governed by Rule 702 of the Colorado Rules of Evidence (CRE 702). Maj. op. at 502. Under CRE 702, expert testimony can be admitted if it “will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.” CRE 702 (1984). The majority also notes that “[t]rial courts have broad discretion to determine the admissibility of expert testimony pursuant to CRE 702, and the exercise of that discretion will not be overturned in the absence of manifest error.” Maj. op. at 502 (relying on People v. Williams, 790 P.2d 796, 798 (Colo.1990) (“[Ajppellate courts may not overturn a trial court’s ruling unless it is manifestly erroneous.”)).
As this court noted in Williams, the test of admissibility is whether “[o]n this subject can a jury from this person receive appreciable help?”. Id. In Williams, we also noted that the “trial judge ought to insist that a proffered expert bring to the jury more than the lawyers can offer in argument.” Id. (citing In re Air Crash Disaster at New Orleans, Louisiana, 795 F.2d 1230, 1233 (5th Cir.1986)). The majority notes that the test “involves a common sense inquiry: whether an untrained lay person would be qualified to determine a particular issue ‘intelligently and to the best possible degree without enlightenment from those having a specialized understanding of the subject involved in the dispute.’ ” Maj. op. at 502.
Based on the facts of this case as revealed in the entire record,1 a person of ordinary intelligence could determine that no serious and highly provoking act occurred that would excite an irresistible passion in a reasonable person without the aid of expert testimony. The defendant watched Beth cook and saw Mark touch Beth once, and they all discussed Mark and Beth’s relationship. A jury would not need expert testimony to determine that these facts do not rise to the level of serious and highly provoking acts.
Additionally, the jury could determine that a sufficient interval of time had passed between the events and the defendant’s actions for the voice of reason to be heard without the aid of expert testimony. The defendant dwelt on the status of his relationship with his estranged wife over the course of the day, visiting with Annette to discuss it, and apologizing to her for what he was about to do. The defendant carried a gun during the course of the day, and wore a down-filled coat in June. The defendant followed Mark outside of the house and shot him multiple times. The defendant returned to the house, found Beth, and dragged her from one room to another before shooting her.
A trier of fact could clearly conclude from these facts that the defendant’s actions were the result of his reflections over the entire day. Thus, Judge Hays, in exercising his broad discretion, could reasonably have ascertained that expert testimony was not necessary to assist the jury in evaluating the objective elements of manslaughter by heat of passion.
I find, after reviewing the entire record, that there was no manifest error in the exclusion of Dr. Plazak’s testimony. Dr. Plazak’s contact with the defendant was minimal: he met with the defendant twice and never prepared a written report. Dr. Plazak’s testimony under the facts of this case, including the defendant’s testimony at trial, would not provide any scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge that would assist the trier of fact (the jury) to understand the evidence or to determine the facts in issue under CRE 702.
For the foregoing reasons, I dissent from the majority’s remand of the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
I am authorized to say that Chief Justice ROVIRA and Justice ERICKSON join in this dissent.

. A remand for further proceedings would provide no additional evidence (after the. trial which included defendant’s testimony) to determine whether expert testimony would provide assistance to the jury to understand the issue of manslaughter by heat of passion.