OUI conviction valid despite trooper’s opinion testimony

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The erroneous admission of a state trooper’s testimony concerning the defendant’s impairment to operate a motor vehicle did not require reversal of her OUI conviction, the Appeals Court has ruled in a split decision.

State Trooper John Haidousis arrested Judith Gallagher for operating under the influence of alcohol. At trial, Trooper Haidousis was asked if he made a determination as to the level of Gallagher’s impairment. Haidousis replied that “she was impaired to operate a motor vehicle.”

On appeal, Gallagher claimed that the judge erred by admitting that portion of Haidousis’s testimony.

The majority of an Appeals Court agreed, but concluded that the error was not prejudicial.

“[I]n view of the whole case, the prejudice flowing from this opinion would be relatively modest given what must have been obvious to the jury, i.e., that the arresting trooper believed the defendant’s ability to operate her car was impaired by alcohol consumption,” Judge William J. Meade wrote for the majority.

The majority noted that the trial judge gave a specific instruction regarding the trooper opinion relative to the defendant’s level of impairment, which “greatly diminished the risk of any prejudicial effect the improper opinion testimony may have had on the jury.”

The majority also found “compelling, if not overwhelming, evidence that supported the jury’s conclusion — apart from the improper opinion testimony — that the defendant’s intoxication impaired her ability to operate a motor vehicle.”

Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. dissented, writing that, “Considering that the evidence portion of the trial consisted of only thirty-seven pages of transcript, made up entirely of the testimony of Trooper Haidousis, I am unable to say with conviction that [Haidousis’s] erroneously admitted opinion that the defendant was ‘impaired to operate a motor vehicle’ either had no effect or only a slight effect on the minds of the jury.”

The 26-page decision is Commonwealth v. Gallagher, Lawyers Weekly No. 11-046-17.

Click here to read the full text of the opinion.