Fourth Court of Appeals
San Antonio, Texas
CONCURRING OPINION
No. 04-16-00368-CR
Peter Mark LEE,
Appellant
v.
The STATE of Texas,
Appellee
From the County Court at Law No. 7, Bexar County, Texas
Trial Court No. 493014
Honorable Genie Wright, Judge Presiding
Opinion by: Irene Rios, Justice
Concurring Opinion by: Rebeca C. Martinez, Justice
Sitting: Sandee Bryan Marion, Chief Justice
Rebeca C. Martinez, Justice
Irene Rios, Justice
Delivered and Filed: August 2, 2017
I write separately on Issue No. 2 because I believe the record shows the trial court erred by
permitting the EMT, Jovanca Liedl, to give expert testimony on the cause of Rachel Lee’s injuries.
Before trial began, the trial court ruled that any State expert witness would be excluded based on
the State’s failure to designate any experts. In permitting Liedl to give her professional opinion
on the cause of Rachel’s injuries, over defense counsel’s objection that it constituted expert
testimony, the trial court improperly characterized Liedl’s testimony as lay opinion testimony and
admitted it on that basis. Liedl’s testimony that, in her opinion, the cause of Rachel’s injuries was
“blunt force trauma” was not merely lay testimony based on Liedl’s personal observations or
Concurring Opinion 04-16-00368-CR
perceptions. See TEX. R. EVID. 701. Rather, the opinion testimony on causation was based on
Liedl’s specialized “knowledge, skill, experience, training, and education” as a certified
emergency medical technician within the meaning of Rule 702. See TEX. R. EVID. 702 (expert
witness testimony); see also Chakravarthy v. State, 516 S.W.3d 116, 130-31 (Tex. App.—Corpus
Christi-Edinburg 2017, no pet.). Because the trial court had already excluded any State experts,
and Liedl’s causation testimony was based on her medical training and specialized knowledge, her
expert opinion testimony should have been excluded. However, because I agree with the majority
that the error was harmless, I concur in the result on this issue.
Rebeca C. Martinez, Justice
DO NOT PUBLISH
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