I came across an interesting out-of-state case today. In State v. McLean, __ A.3d __ (N.J. Mar. 31, 2011), the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that an officer who “observed defendant engage in behavior that the officer believed was a [hand-to-hand] narcotics transaction” could testify only about the basic facts that he observed, and could not give his lay opinion that he saw drug sales. The court concluded that such an opinion is not helpful to the jury, which is able to interpret the basic facts observed by the officer on its own, and that allowing such opinion testimony would improperly allow a witness to comment directly on the defendant’s guilt. The case got me wondering about North Carolina law concerning lay testimony by officers about drug activity. Drug identification. We know that such testimony can’t be used to identify controlled substances, except, apparently, for marijuana. A recent post on that evolving issue is here. Drug packaging. On the other hand, officers, at least those with some personal experience regarding the drug trade, can provide lay opinion testimony about the packaging of drugs. State v. Hargrave, 198 N.C. App. 579 (2009) (officers properly gave lay opinion testimony that “the cocaine [found near the defendant] was packaged as if for sale” based on the officers’ “personal experience” and “personal knowledge of drug practices”). Connection between drugs and money. Similarly, officers with appropriate personal experience may also testify about the connection between drug sales and money. Id. (officers properly testified that “the [...]
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