Hunt v. State

Citations

• 9 Tex. Ct. App. 166

Syllabus

<p>1. Expert Testimony. —An expert’s opinion must be limited to a matter of science, skill, trade, or the like, and is not allowable ón the general merits of the case. It must not be based upon extra-j udicial information, but be founded either upon the evidence or the expert’s personal knowledge of the facts, or else be postulated on a hypothetical case.</p> <p>2. Same—Case Stated.—In a trial for murder, it was in proof that the death resulted from a number of gunshot wounds and knife-cuts. A medical expert, testifying for the State, deposed that he had examined the cuts, but not the gunshot wounds; and it does not appear that he had heard the testimony in the case. The State-was allowed, over objection, to elicit from him the opinion that the first shot fired at the deceased inflicted the gunshot wound in his belly, and that all the shooting and cutting was done by a single individual. Held, that this opinion transcended the legitimate limits of expert testimony, and was not supported by competent data.</p>