Sunday, January 29, 2012

Officer not always permitted to render opinion. State v. McLean 205 NJ 438 (2011)

Officer not always permitted to render opinion. State v. McLean 205 NJ 438 (2011)

The opinion offered by the officer does not meet the requirements needed to qualify it as a lay opinion and permitting the officer to testify about his opinion invaded the fact-finding province of the jury. This case involved a drug dealing conviction where a detective, after testifying about transactions seen from an unmarked car while on undercover drug surveillance, opined that they were narcotics sale.