Court Opinion

ID: 9789487
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:36:58.613152+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:22.535181
License: Public Domain

BRYNER, Chief Judge,
concurring.
I am reluctant to characterize Dr. Turner’s testimony as “approaching plain error.” Cox did not object to the testimony below and has not directly raised the issue on appeal.
In my view, however, the outcome of this case should not turn on whether Turner’s testimony verged on plain error. Whether proper or not, the testimony was obviously extremely significant to the state’s case and extremely damaging to Cox’s. Because Turner testified on rebuttal, and, for this reason, the scope of his testimony was not apparent until he took the stand, Cox’s inability to have an expert of his own immediately available for surrebuttal was certainly understandable. Given the importance of Turner’s testimony and its presentation on rebuttal, I believe that Cox should have been allowed to present his own expert witness in surrebuttal unless there was some compelling reason to deny him that opportunity.
The trial court’s only apparent reason for denying Cox this opportunity was its conclusion that the testimony of Cox’s proposed expert would have been cumulative. Given the circumstances, however, Cox's offer of proof as to his proposed expert testimony was necessarily tentative and conjectural. I do not believe that the trial *380court was justified in concluding from the justifiably sketchy offer that Cox’s expert could only have provided cumulative testimony. In my view, there was no sound reason to preclude Cox from presenting an expert witness to rebut Dr. Turner’s testimony. Accordingly, I would find that the trial court abused its discretion in denying Cox the opportunity to present his own expert.