ERIC CARDOSO
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Police officers and lay witnesses may testify regarding their observations of a defendant's acts, conduct, and appearance and may give opinion testimony about the defendant's state of impairment based on those observations.
[1] Police officers and lay witnesses may testify regarding their observations of a defendant's acts, conduct, and appearance and may give opinion testimony concerning the de…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Police officers and lay witnesses have long been permitted to testify as to their observations of a defendant's acts, conduct, and appearance, and also to give an opinion on the defendant's state of impairment based on those observations.”
Court cited Williams v. State, 710 So. 2d 24, 28 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998) in support of the admissibility of impairment opinion testimony.
Appellant Cardoso was charged in a driving under the influence matter in Brevard County. The trial court heard testimony regarding Cardoso's impairmen…
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PER CURIAM.
AFFIRMED. See Williams v. State, 710 So. 2d 24, 28 (Fla. 3d DCA
1998) (“Police officers and lay witnesses have long been permitted to testify as to their observations of a defendant’s acts, conduct, and appearance, and also to give an opinion on the defendant’s state of impairment based on those observations.”); City of Orlando v. Newell, 232 So. 2d 413, 413 (Fla. 4th DCA
1970) (holding that where police officer in prosecution for driving under influence of intoxicating beverages described to trial court, before expressing opinion, the defendant’s acts, conduct, appearance and statements as seen and heard by officer, officer’s opinion testimony that defendant was under influence of intoxicating beverages to the extent that his normal faculties were impaired was properly admitted).1
LAMBERT, C.J., EVANDER and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Cinthia Vargas v. State (Fla. 3d DCA 2026)…State's examination of the second officer – who conducted the field sobriety tests also was not improper for eliciting from this officer that Vargas appeared impaired. An officer is allowed to provide this observation to the jury. Williams v. State, 710 So. 2d 24, 28-29 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998). [*4] Vargas also alleges on appeal that the trial court committed fundamental error when it allowed the State (without objection) to suggest that Vargas sought to hide evidence of her guilt when she declined to take a brea…
Authorities Cited
- Williams v. State, 710 So. 2d 24 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)
- City OF Orlando v. Linwood Herman Newell, 232 So. 2d 413 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970)