Thursday, March 3, 2011

NHTSA Manual may not be used for cross examination

In a decision posted on March 3rd, the CCA ruled that the NHTSA manual may not be used to cross examine an officer in a DUI Trial. The Court stated,

"Defense counsel may only use a manual to formulate questions for cross-examination; counsel may not use it to impeach the officer. To subject a “lay” witness, whose testimony by definition is based only upon facts observed, not about opinions or inferences, to cross-examination based upon a “learned treatise” in the same fashion an expert is subjected to cross-examination would be improper. See Cohen, et al., Tennessee Law of Evidence, § 7.01[4][a] ."

Read the State v Blair decision at:

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