Court Opinion

ID: 9620233
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:40:01.38394+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:48.505746
License: Public Domain

Smith, J.
(concurring in the dissent) — I join in the dissent, but am also greatly disturbed over the opinion testimony of Joel C. Hardin, the United States Border Patrol tracker, which included some strange conclusions on "nationality" identification. Defense counsel did not object, and indeed brought out much of that testimony himself. An objection, if made, arguably would have been sustained under ER 403 (exclusion of relevant evidence on grounds of prejudice, confusion or waste of time).
I do not believe the majority opinion in this case should become the authority in future cases for use of testimony of sign cutters or trackers which, either as expert opinion or as lay opinion, goes to such cosmic extremes as the testimony of the tracker in this case. He did have personal knowledge of the things he observed, but there was absolutely no rational basis for the conclusion he reached that the person he was tracking was a young Mexican male.
It seems apparent from the record in this case that counsel and the witness freely used words of sociological meaning without recognizing distinctions between them, such as race, ethnicity, national origin, and nationality. It seems also, although less apparent, that Mr. Hardin was able to convert his experience in tracking undocumented persons at the Mexican border into some type of divine intuition which equipped him to determine the race, ethnicity, national origin or nationality of the person he was tracking.
*326Under ER 702 (testimony by experts), Mr. Hardin might have qualified for expert testimony as a "sign cutter" or tracker, he having tracked over 5,000 human beings in the course of his 23-year career. The trial court, though, properly admitted his testimony as lay opinion under ER 701 (opinion testimony by lay witnesses). There was nothing strange about his testimony concerning his determination of the height and weight of the person he was tracking, based upon his extraordinary ability to observe tracks and signs. It defies reason and logic, though, that anyone — including Mr. Hardin — could determine, based solely upon "sign cutting" or tracking techniques and interpretation of the trail, that the person being tracked was "a young Mexican male." Even if the testimony is determined to be competent, such a conclusion was unduly prejudicial to Appellant Ortiz, who is a young (age 22) Hispanic (Latino) male of Mexican ancestry.
Could Mr. Hardin, the tracker, determine that he was tracking a young American male? A young Polish male? A young French male? A young German male? A young Japanese male? A young African male? Mr. Hardin in his testimony insisted that he could, relying upon his "sign cutting" or tracking skills and experience.
Defense counsel did object to one unusual statement by Mr. Hardin on direct examination ("My conclusion was that the person was going across there, spoke to the dog at that point and the dog, reassured that everything was all right... just turned around and meandered or started back to the house at that point."). His objection was overruled.
However, typical conclusions by Mr. Hardin, which defense counsel himself elicited on cross examination and to which he did not object, include:8
Well, based on what I am seeing here, we're following somebody that's about 150 pounds, five-six, five-seven, young person. The way they cross through raspberries and travel is just like a Mexican. . . . Yeah, the sign impressed me that way, having followed hundreds of Hispanic individuals through raspberry fields, that was the sign, that's what the sign looked like to me.
*327Actually, the conclusion reached by Mr. Hardin on direct examination was an entirely appropriate response to the question asked:9
Q: Did you form an opinion as to the size and weight of the individual that left the sign?
A: Yes. It had to be someone who was about, who was shorter than I was and shorter than Peterson. It had to be someone who was five-seven or five-eight, in that neighborhood, relatively short, had to be slighter or lighter than I am and we figured that 140 to 160, right about 150 pounds, a person who traveled well, was used to walking and used to raspberry fields, used to being out there, was accustomed to that sort of thing. He traveled easily through the raspberries without any problem. He knew where the wires were. He knew how the raspberries were caned. He put his feet down well. He walked assuredly. He was, in my judgment, a young person, active and in good health traveling quite easily and very accustomed to being out there.
Portions of Mr. Hardin's testimony, mainly in response to questions on cross examination, will illustrate the tenuous, and perhaps dangerous, foundation for his conclusion which went to the identification of Appellant Mario Ortiz, a young Latino (Hispanic) of Mexican origin.
The tracker, Mr. Hardin, seemingly drew upon some ontological intuition as he further elaborated on his conclusion under cross examination:10
Q: So to sum that up, basically, it would be fair to say that Mexicans are used to walking through raspberries wherein you or I are probably not?
A: I doubt seriously that you are.
Q: And that is based on what?
A: It's based on my having been in the raspberry fields for many years and observing the people in the raspberry fields and following sign transiting through raspberry fields.
Q: So what we're really saying is that you can look at me, I don't appear to be Mexican, and so, therefore, in your opinion I would have difficulty going through a raspberry field?
A: Your sign going through a raspbeny field would be significantly different than a Mexican individual who was used to being out there and working in raspberries, yeah.
*328Q: What, referring again to your testimony about the passage through the raspberry field as being very characteristic of a particular nationality, in your experience as a Border Patrol tracking person what other nationalities have you tracked, Mr. Hardin?
A: What other nationalities?
Q: Yeah. Is that the phrase that you are most comfortable with, nationality?
A: Well, you are asking, I track many people other than Mexicans. Probably all Latin and South American nationalities, I have tracked German and French, US at one time or another, probably have been involved in 20, 30 different people from different countries, tracking people from different countries.
Q: Okay. And is the way a person walks or is a person's gait determined by where they're bom? Is that your testimony?
A: No, no. First of all, the person's gait, where we're actually talking about the footfall interval, is what we're talking about, and by talking about a person's gait in relation to a track, you are picking one item or one characteristic out of the totality of that track. We know a particular gait wouldn't be based on the nationality. It would be based upon the physical characteristics of that particular individual.
Q: Okay. If it's based on the particular characteristic, of the individual, then how do we, I mean, you have reached an opinion here that the individual is Mexican.
A: (No audible response by the witness. Nodding head in the affirmative).
Q: Well, what characteristic do Mexicans share in terms of, other than berry fields, in terms of the way they walk which perhaps are not shared — my last name is Komorowski — are not shared perhaps by Polish people?
A: Well, in my experience of chasing Mexicans through fields, when he ran across that plowed field there that was a person who is physically in good shape, picks his feet up, puts them down, so on, very much the same as numerous Mexican tracks that I have followed through various different areas. So that was one of the portion of the characteristics of the sign that went together to make up the totality of that judgment.
Q: And that would not be trae, first of all, of Polish people?
A: It might be if a Polish person was used to that area and had worked on it and so on, so forth.
Q: Well, what sign would you expect to see through this field, for instance, if a Polish person had gone through?
*329A: Right now I have, I can't recall ever having followed or tracked a Polish person who was used to ever being out in that kind of an area. So I am not sure. It probably would be the same evidence or the same sign as anyone who would be unfamiliar with that area.
Q: Now in terms of getting back to this gait situation, and I realize that's a portion of how you reach your conclusion that anybody you would expect that was unfamiliar with this area would leave approximately the same sign, is that what you are saying?
A: Well, hypothetical, your hypothetical, instances are hard to address. What a person totally unfamiliar with that area, what kind of sign he would leave, would vary with every individual probably.
Q: Have you had the occasion to track Europeans?
A: Oh, yes.
Q: Okay. What sign would you expect to see from a European going through that field?
A: What sign would I expect to see. To characterize ethnic European nationality from Hispanic nationality, normally you see someone is again used to walking. Their footgear is different, their mannerisms and their carrying are.
Q: Who is used to walking, which group are we talking about that is used to walking?
A: Some European nationalities. Your, you know, European nationalities.
Q: What nationality are we talking about, German, Swiss? Pick one. Canadian? How about German? Let's talk about German. Are they used to walking?
A: They could be, yes. Many of them are. It could be. If you are talking about someone who has arrived on the continent from Germany, probably their footgear is different. They're unfamiliar with the kind of area that we have depicted here in the raspberry field and the heavy distance that the tracks crossed and so now exactly how that would vary from the sign that's here, I don't know. I'm not prepared to say how that would differ. If I could see the sign on the ground, I could probably show you the differences or variances.
Q: You're saying, aren't you, Mr. Hardin, is that from this track that you characterized would be less than half a mile, you can differentiate between the race, or, excuse me, the nationality of the person who made that track?
A: No. I think we may be confusing things here. What I said was, the point that I made, the comment midway through *330at some point, through the sign while we were in the raspbeny fields to Sergeant Peterson, he said "What do you think?" And I was describing the totality of the circumstances. I said, "He travels like a young Mexican." That's what I said and that was based on what was apparent to me. I didn't say that the suspect was a young Mexican. I didn't say that the person who they would arrest would be a young Mexican. He asked me what I thought about the sign and that is what I stated.
Q: You did say you had an opinion as to the person that made this track in terms of nationality, isn't that what's right in front of you?
A: I said that I thought he was a young Mexican.
Q: All right. Now there [referring to the witness' prior sworn testimony] you talk about the ability to or the necessity as an agent, do you not, to distinguish between plain old Mexicans that are coming up here to find a job or Mexicans that are carrying dope or something from Canada, the United States or European nationality. You are talking there about the ability to distinguish race based on sign.
A: It's national origin rather than race.
Q: How do you differentiate between — well, first — could you define what you mean by old Mexicans? Explain how you differentiate between plain old Mexicans from a Mexican that is carrying dope from a European who is carrying dope, so and so forth?
A: As I was using it here as plain old Mexican, they're coming up here to find a job or Mexicans that are coming up here possibly carrying dope. I haven't read the rest of this but, in general, I would, my perception is that this is in relation to determining whether or not somebody is carrying contraband into , the United States or the ones who are only coming up here to find a job and work in order to feed their families in Mexico.
Q: How is that reflected in their sign, their gait?
A: Oh, you would almost have to see the sign to be able to tell. It becomes a very important part of your work habits to be able to tell what the intentions and the objectives of the people that you are following. The people who have dope are probably going to kill you if they get the chance. The ones who are coming up here to get a job and to go to work probably are not. You better know what you are doing —
Q: Right.
A: — and the sign, the sign travels different. It carries itself differently. The intentions of the person, what's in their mind, is different. Their actions that are communicated to you from the sign they leave on the ground are different, *331the secreting of objects that they carry or whatever are different from a person whose only concern is being observed.
On first redirect examination of Mr. Hardin, the prosecuting attorney asked some leading questions to clarify the impressions given by Mr. Hardin in his testimony on cross examination:11
Q: Joel, you were asked a number of questions about determining nationality by looking at sign. Do you feel you could be able to determine the difference in sign like when Mr. Komorowski used his name, I will use my name, McEachran, which is of Scottish background, and I believe your opinion of the tracks were in this case anywhere from, I believe you said from five-six to five-eight, approximately 150 pounds, let's assume this was a person who walked, didn't drive a car, he walked all over; he also worked in raspberries, knew raspberries well, was a younger person, good physical shape. Do you believe you would be able to distinguish the sign that that person would leave, a sign that a person who had the same, approximately the same physical size, 150 pounds, between five-six and five-eight, within that height range, was a walking person and was familiar with raspberries and was of Mexican origin?
A: Probably not, unless there was some obvious or some unusual characteristic, no.
Q: The question I am asking is not whether you could differentiate those two signs, one sign from another by following these people, the question is whether or not you could tefl the national origin of those people based on those characteristics that I have mentioned.
A: No.
Q: In other words, one is from Scotland or has a Scottish background or one is from Mexico, has Mexican background?
A: Not in general, unless there would be some unusual characteristic, but in general, no, you couldn't.
Q: When you were asked by Ron Peterson what you thought or what you had described, what you told him, you indicated the person was a walking person and the size, you indicated you believed it would be a young Mexican male, young Mexican person. As far as the nationality and as far as your opinion is that as clear and was that as strong in your statement to Ron Peterson as the size, the size characteristics, the fact that this person was a walking person?
*332A: No. I was describing to Ron the, more the type of sign that I was seeing, the type of sign that we were looking at, the characteristics of the sign that I was seeing. The statement that it was a young Mexican was more to describe the overall general characteristics of the sign that we were seeing rather than to denote it had to be a Mexican in deference to a German or Swiss or something of that. It kind of got this nationality all twisted in here which is not, is not pertinent to the sign cutting at all. The overall general characteristics of the sign that we were seeing was that type of a field worker used to working in raspberries, used to being out there, traveling afoot and so on. That's what I was describing to Sergeant Peterson.
Q: Did the composition of the labor force in Whatcom County that related to raspberry picking have any play or have any, become a factor in your response to Mm about what you were looking at?
A: Predominantly the labor force working in raspberries up there are Mexican people, not necessarily people from Mexico, but of Mexican descent, Híspame nationality people and much the same as if you are describing some other characteristic, general characteristic of a certam type of people, perhaps a crewman. If you say a crewman, people think you are talkrng about people who work on sMps. In fact, you might be talking about an airplane pilot but automatically you think of someone who works on a sMp and in order to convey an image of general characteristic of what I was talking about, Ron said, "What do you think?" I said, well, because of tMs and this and this, they travel like a young Mexican. That's basically it.
Despite that line of questioning, questions on recross examination reinforced Mr. Hardin's strange conclusions on "nationality".12
Q: That statement, in fact, Mr. Hardin, is based on race, stereotype, wasn't it? Aren't we talking about raspberries and that is particularly, to use your terminology, how he travels through a raspberry field is "very characteristic" of a particular nationality? Aren't those your words, Mr. Hardin?
A: They could be. You are reading them. I assume that they are.
*333Q: Why don't you tell us whether or not those are your words, Mr. Hardin?
A: "[T]he method in passage of the sign through the raspberry fields and the way it traveled, held up and so on as it passed through the raspberry field was very characteristic of a particular nationality," yes.
Then on second redirect questioning by the prosecuting attorney, the following was stated:13
Q: Joel, in regard to that question, was that based on the racial stereotype or was that based on the experience of the sign and your experience looking at individuals who were field workers?
A: It's based on my experience as being out in the raspberry field and looking at sign and tracks and/or observing the people who are out there.
Not only did Mr. Hardin insist that he could determine whether a person he was tracking was a "young Mexican male", but he also testified that he could distinguish between "plain old Mexicans" coming here to find a job and "Mexicans . . . carrying contraband into the United States. . . ." The conclusion reached by Mr. Hardin on "nationality" of his quarry in this case is fraught with stereotypes. It begs the question to suggest that the jury could separate intelligent reasoning from psychic fantasy, particularly where the conclusion that the person being tracked was a "young Mexican male" matched the person of Appellant Ortiz.
Despite the fact that no objection was made by defense counsel who elicited the "Mexican national" testimony, its admissibility was unduly prejudicial and inconsistent with any concept of fundamental fairness in our criminal justice system.
Utter, J., concurs with Smith, J.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings, at 960-61.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings, at 955-56.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings, at 962-69.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings, at 977-80.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings, at 984-85.

Verbatim Report of Proceedings, at 985.