United States v. Moon

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
United States v. Moon, 823 F.3d 102 (1st Cir. 2016)
2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 8922; 2016 WL 2865249

United States v. Moon

Dissenting Opinion

TORRUELLA and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges,

dissenting from denial of en bane rehearing.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge,

joined by TORRUELLA and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges, Statement Re Denial of En Banc Review.

I am disappointed that a majority of the active judges have rejected the opportunity presented by this case to reconsider en banc our aberrant and misguided law on the admission of opinion testimony by police officers. In my concurrence four years ago in United States v. Valdivia, I pointed out that our approach has “created in some of our precedents an unwarranted police exception from the requirements applicable to expert testimony.” 680 F.3d 33, 61 (1st Cir. 2012). That approach not only seriously misconstrues Federal Rules of Evidence 701 and 702, but it is also “at odds with [the law of] virtually every other circuit.” United States v. Moon, 802 F.3d 135, 147 n. 9 (1st Cir. 2015) (citing Valdivia, 680 F.3d at 56 n. 16 (collecting cases)). It is now well past the time when we should have confronted our flawed law and eliminated the ongoing unfairness to defendants.

Opinion of the Court

ORDER OF COURT

The petition for rehearing having been denied by the panel of judges who decided the case, and the petition for rehearing en banc having been submitted to the active judges of this court and a majority of the judges not having voted that the case be heard en banc, it is ordered that the petition for rehearing and the petition for rehearing en banc be denied.

Reference

Full Case Name
UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Terrance MOON, Defendant, Appellant
Status
Unknown