Verified Document

Federal Statute Surrounding Opinion Testimony Research Proposal

There may be instances where the lay person's testimony would be difficult to understand for any number of reasons, but the opinion would help to clarify the testimony for the court. The opinion must therefore be directly related to the case. Superfluous opinion evidence is inadmissible; it must provide genuine value to the court's understanding of the case. In South Carolina, the added c) clause implies that in addition to the above, the situation must be such that there is no expert witness who could otherwise provide the opinion in question. The only time, then, in South Carolina where lay persons may render opinion is in situations where any reasonable lay person could form such opinions. If the situation is such that the opinion cannot reasonably be formed except by an expert, the lay opinion is inadmissible. This essentially rules out the potential for a lay witness to contradict an expert witness,...

By excluding lay witness testimony in matters requiring an expert witness, the supremacy of expert witness testimony is firmly established in the statute.
Overall, the statutes of the two Carolinas and the federal statutes are almost identical. However, South Carolina makes the added stipulation that rules out conflict between expert and lay witness opinions by rendering the latter inadmissible in situations where the former is available.

Works Cited:

Federal Rules of Evidence retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/LEGAL/FREv/Fre00041.htm

South Carolina Rules of Evidence retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.xprolegal.com/rules/Rules_SCarolina.pdf

North Carolina Rules of Evidence retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/ByArticle/Chapter_8C/Article_7.pdf

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited:

Federal Rules of Evidence retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/LEGAL/FREv/Fre00041.htm

South Carolina Rules of Evidence retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.xprolegal.com/rules/Rules_SCarolina.pdf

North Carolina Rules of Evidence retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/ByArticle/Chapter_8C/Article_7.pdf
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Role of a Forensic Psychologist
Words: 1820 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Courtroom Psychology This assessment addresses forensic psychological assessment. This question addresses some of the differences in forensic psychological work and clinical work. Most forensic psychologists are clinical psychologists who specialize in forensic work. These clinicians bring their clinical skills to the forensic assessment; however, there are unique circumstances in the forensic assessment that the clinician must consider. For example, it is infrequent that a client would lie, malinger, or withhold information

Undocumented Students Equity to In-State Tuition: Reducing
Words: 8115 Length: 22 Document Type: Research Paper

Undocumented Students Equity to in-State Tuition: Reducing The Barriers There exist policy ambiguities and variations at federal, state, and institutional levels related to undocumented student access to and success in higher education and this has created problems for these students. This study investigated specific policies and procedures to provide the resources and capital to assist undocumented students as well as reviewed key elements of showing the correlation of these difficulties with ethnic

Censorship in Music
Words: 12976 Length: 36 Document Type: Term Paper

Censorship in Music Censorship Under the Guise of Protecting the Children Rock and Roll Culture Hip Hop Culture Is Censorship in Music Viable and Does it Make a Difference? There have been many attempts by society control music. Governmental statutes, agency regulations, business controls and parents have all tried to censor the music. Sometimes they have succeeded and sometimes they have not. The examination of various aspects of rock and rap music censorship involves general

Catholic Church in Spain and the United States
Words: 19318 Length: 70 Document Type: Thesis

Catholic church and public policy have remarked that the members of American clergy in general, without even excepting those who do not admit religious liberty, are all in favour of civil freedom; but they do not support any particular political system. They keep aloof from parties, and from public affairs. In the United States religion exercises but little influence upon laws, and upon the details of public opinion; but it

Governor of Illinois, Not Long Ago, Declared
Words: 2915 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Governor of Illinois, not long ago, declared a temporary moratorium on death penalty cases. He then commuted the sentences of all death row inmates in Illinois prisons. This was due to reports of egregious miscarriage of justice. Innocent people were unfairly sentenced. (Davey & Mills, 2003) While this was welcome news to some, it also provoked outrage among those who felt that the "blanket moratorium" was an injustice to

Constitutional Protections in American Criminal
Words: 1668 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Georgia (428 U.S. 153). In that case, the Supreme Court finally ruled specifically that capital punishment was not inherently necessarily cruel or unusual, and therefore, was not a violation of the Eighth Amendment in and of itself (Schmalleger, 2008). Since Gregg, the issues surrounding the Eighth Amendment constitutionality of capital punishment relate to the specific methods of implementation in light of evidence that lethal injection, the most common method used

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now