State v. Garlinghouse

Under OEC 702, expert testimony “must assist a trier of fact to understand the evidence or determine an issue of fact that it may not be able to understand or determine as well on its own.” State v. Jesse, 360 Or 584, 594 (2016).

Defendant was convicted of murdering his estranged wife and claimed self defense. An audio recording was recovered from the victim’s phone, and the detective testified to his conclusions as to what happened before the victim was shot based on the audio. Defendant assigned error to multiple evidentiary rulings, one of which being the trial court’s decision to admit the detective’s opinions on the sounds in the recording, arguing that it was expert testimony because the detective was also a digital forensics expert and that the information was not helpful to the jury, thus making it inadmissible. Under OEC 702, expert testimony “must assist a trier of fact to understand the evidence or determine an issue of fact that it may not be able to understand or determine as well on its own.” State v. Jesse, 360 Or 584, 594 (2016). The detective testified to the conditions under which he reviewed the recording after enhancing the audio using advanced equipment, which were significantly better than those of a courtroom, where it was difficult to hear the sounds the detective described. The trial court determined the expert testimony was helpful to the jury given those circumstances and therefore did not abuse its discretion in admitting the evidence. Affirmed.