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Allen v. State4/2/2002
pellant's motion for a judgment of acquittal.
HEARSAY TESTIMONY
[ ] Appellant argues that the district court erred in allowing the State's accident reconstruction expert to testify regarding statements attributed to Heather Johnson because the witness testified that the statements "corroborated" his findings; therefore, the statements did not form the basis for his expert opinion and should have been excluded. Additional argument pertaining to Heather Johnson's videotaped statement is essentially moot in light of this Court's denial of appellant's motion to supplement the record with the videotaped statement.
[ ] Determinations with respect to the admissibility of evidence are vested within the sound discretion of the trial court, and we do not disturb those rulings on appeal absent a clear abuse of discretion. Russell v. State, 851 P.2d 1274, 1281 (Wyo. 1993).
"[T]he core of our inquiry must reach 'the question of reasonableness of the choice made by the trial court.' Vaughn v. State, 962 P.2d 149, 151 (Wyo.1998). 'Judicial discretion is a composite of many things, among which are conclusions drawn from objective criteria; it means a sound judgment exercised with regard to what is right under the circumstances and without doing so arbitrarily or capriciously.' Id. (quoting Byerly v. Madsen, 41 Wash.App. 495, 704 P.2d 1236, 1238 (1985)); Basolo, 907 P.2d at 353 [(Wyo. 1995)]. We must ask ourselves whether the district court could reasonably conclude as it did and whether any facet of its ruling was arbitrary or capricious." Young v. HAC, LLC, 2001 WY 50, 6, 24 P.3d 1142, 1144 (Wyo. 2001) (quoting Carlton v. Carlton, 997 P.2d 1028, 1031 (Wyo. 2000)).
In this respect, we give considerable deference to the trial court's rulings. Griswold v. State, 994 P.2d 920, 927 (Wyo. 1999).
[ ] Officer Dye testified for the State as an expert witness in accident reconstruction. Officer Dye had been a peace officer for twenty-four years with 250 hours "in advanced training in DUI detection and apprehension," conducted in excess "of 500, 600" DUI arrests (thirty to forty percent of which arrests involved a "crash"), and received additional training, experience, and provided expert testimony in accident reconstruction. Officer Dye testified as follows:
Q: Now, as to the result and processes you're going to use here today, the theories and the experimentation you do, have those theory techniques been tested and found to be accurate within your field?
A: Yes, sir, they have.
Q: Have other accident reconstructionists found these techniques you are going to testify to be accurate, to produce accurate results?
A: Yes, they have, sir.
Q: Are they commonly accepted in the accident reconstructionist community as producing accurate results?
A: Yes, sir.
A: When you perform a reconstruction, sir, what you're trying to do is gain the most complete picture that is possible of what actually happened during the crash. I reviewed the physical evidence at the scene. I reviewed physical evidence from the motor vehicles. I reviewed the statements from everyone involved in the actual crash, any eyewitnesses to the crash. You put all of those things together and build a complete picture.
If the physical evidence leads me to a conclusion and the eyewitness statements lead me to another conclusion, then I would realize that I have to rework my scenario, my theories and my opinions, but if they all work together and corroborate each other, basically it's a double-check on my work, my physical work with the scene and the vehicles, corroborating that with the statements. It ensures that my work is as accurate as possib
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