Court Opinion

ID: 9477593
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:26:56.926899+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:57.399074
License: Public Domain

PIERCE, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in all of Judge Winter’s thorough opinion except for the portion discussing the “second fatal objection” to Whit-ten’s expert testimony. A question remains in my mind as to whether Judge Winter’s conclusion that “expert witnesses may not offer opinions on relevant events based on their personal assessment of the credibility of another witness’s testimony” is consistent with Rules 703 and 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Advisory Committee Notes. As I understand it, the expert’s reliance on the testimony of a witness whose credibility is in question may be brought out on cross-examination and may not affect the foundation for admission of the opinion itself. See, e.g., Polk v. Ford Motor Co., 529 F.2d 259, 271 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 907, 96 *144S.Ct. 2229, 48 L.Ed.2d 832 (1976); Twin City Plaza, Inc. v. Central Surety and Ins. Corp., 409 F.2d 1195, 1200 (8th Cir.1969); 3 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Wein-stein’s Evidence ¶1705[01], at 705-6 to -10 (1987); McCormick on Evidence § 14, at 35 (E. Cleary 3d ed. 1984).
Nonetheless, since I agree with the primary objection to Whitten’s testimony, namely, that Whitten’s statements in the form of legal conclusions exceeded the permissible scope of opinion testimony under the Federal Rules of Evidence, I concur in Judge Winter’s conclusion that all of the appellants’ convictions should be reversed except for the perjury convictions of Bloom and Stone.