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Reed v. Maryland9/6/1978
which but seven years before had referred to the science of firearms identification as "preposterous," ruled such testimony admissible on the same grounds as any other expert testimony, relying on People v. Jennings, supra, the first fingerprint case. The court said:
"It is argued that this testimony was novel and should not have been admitted; that it was not within the field of expert testimony; that such evidence is not admissible under the common law and no statute of this State authorizes its admission. The same objection was raised in People v. Jennings, 252 Ill. 534, to the admission of finger prints as means of identification. So the same question was raised when photography was first introduced. (1 Wigmore on Evidence, sec. 795.) Of such evidence it was said in People v. Jennings, supra, that while it may or may not be of independent strength, it is admissible, the same as other proof, as tending to make out a case. The general rule is that whatever tends to prove any material fact is relevant and competent. (People v. Gray, 251 Ill. 431.) Expert testimony is admissible when the subject matter of the inquiry is of such a character that only persons of skill and experience in it are capable of forming a correct judgment as to any facts connected therewith. (People v. Jennings, supra.) Such evidence is not confined to classified and special professions but is admissible wherever peculiar skill, and judgment applied to a particular subject are required to explain results by
tracing them to their causes. Such evidence is admissible when the witnesses offered as experts have peculiar knowledge or experience not common to the world, which renders their opinions founded on such knowledge and experience an aid to the court or jury determining the issues. (People v. Jennings, supra; Yarber v. Chicago and Alton Railway Co., 235 Ill. 589; Evans v. People, 12 Mich. 27; Taylor v. Monroe, 43 Conn. 36; Ellingwood v. Bragg, 52 N.H. 488; McFaddon v. Murdock, 1 Ir. Rep. (1867) Cl, 211; 1 Greenleaf on Evidence, -- Lewis' ed. -- sec. 280.) The question of the qualification of an expert rests largely in the discretion of the trial court. Bonato v. Peabody Coal Co., 248 Ill. 422; 3 Wigmore on Evidence, sec. 1923.
"In Lyon v. Oliver, 316 Ill. 292, it was pointed out that handwriting, photography of questioned documents and identification of typewriting were subjects for expert testimony. It was in that case shown that the same typewriter might, after considerable use, register letters of different form from that which it would make of the same letter when the machine was new, and that whether this has occurred in any given case is a subject for expert testimony. We are of the opinion that in this case, where the witness has been able to testify that by the use of magnifying instruments and by reason of his experience and study he has been able to determine the condition of a certain exhibit, which condition he details to the jury, such evidence, while the jury are not bound to accept his conclusions as true, is competent expert testimony on a subject properly one for expert knowledge." Id. at 239-41.
The same year in which Fisher was decided an Ohio appellate court approved the admissibility of ballistics testimony by a banker who made guns his hobby. Burchett v. State, 35 Ohio App. 463, 172 N. E. 555 (1930). The court recognized that the science was still in the developmental
stages, noting, "The possibility of identifying a bullet that has been fired with the firearm from which it was projected is now receiving intensive study by engineers." 35 Ohio App. at 468. The court continued, "The new science, if it be a science, for want of a better name, is known as int
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