STATE
VS. JENNIFER LEE LOCASCIO
A-5119-09T1
Defendant
was convicted of vehicular manslaughter after a jury trial. The indictment stemmed from a one-car
accident in which defendant's boyfriend was killed after the car veered off the
road and struck a tree. The
pivotal issue at trial was whether, as the State contended, defendant was the
driver or whether, as the defense and its expert contended, the boyfriend was
the driver.
The State presented expert testimony
from the county medical examiner opining that defendant was the driver. During the course of his testimony, the
medical examiner rendered opinions, over defendant's objection, about the
probable movements of the occupants within the car as it decelerated and crashed,
including an analysis of how the passenger's body allegedly
"cushioned" the driver's body during the accident.
We reverse defendant's conviction and
order a new trial because the testimony of the medical examiner, who the State concedes
is not qualified as an expert in biomechanics or accident
reconstruction, prejudicially went beyond the scope of his expertise on a
crucial disputed issue. The
examiner's testimony should have been confined to the aspects of his expertise as a pathologist concerning the nature and causes of bodily
injury, and should not have delved into the biomechanical forces and movements
within the automobile. 05-04-12
