State v. McGrady Confirms NC is a Daubert State:  Now What?

The North Carolina Supreme Court held in State v. McGrady, __ N.C.___ (June 10, 2016), that Rule 702(a) of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence incorporates the standard set forth in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993). That’s what the court of appeals had already said, so it isn’t a big surprise. In McGrady, the application of Daubert led the state supreme court to conclude that the trial court did not err in excluding testimony from an expert in law enforcement training about the defendant’s conscious and unconscious responses to a perceived threat from the victim. McGrady’s analysis opens the door for reconsidering the admissibility of many types of expert testimony previously admitted as a matter of course, including expert testimony from law enforcement experts involving scientific and medical principles. Facts. Charles McGrady was indicted for first-degree murder in the shooting death of his cousin, James Allen Shore Jr., with whom he had an acrimonious relationship. Defendant McGrady admitted to shooting Shore, but claimed that he did so to defend himself and his adult son. At trial, McGrady sought to introduce the testimony of Dave Cloutier as an expert on “the science of the use of force.” Procedural history. The trial court excluded all of the testimony under Rule 702(a). McGrady was convicted of first degree murder and appealed, arguing in part that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding Cloutier’s testimony. The court of appeals rejected McGrady’s argument and found no error in his conviction. The [...]