Section 13.8 General Discussion

• Library: Sources of Proof (2014 Ed.)

A. (§13.8) General Discussion

Section 490.065.2, RSMo 2000, states that “[t]estimony by such an expert witness in the form of an opinion or inference otherwise admissible is not objectionable because it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact.” This portion of the statute adopts Federal Rule of Evidence 704(a). One notable difference is that § 490.065.2 does not prohibit the use of expert testimony on the ultimate issue of the sanity of a criminal defendant. That exception is made in Federal Rule of Evidence 704(b).

The permissible bases of an expert’s opinion are codified in § 490.065.3, which provides that:

3. The facts or data in a particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to him at or before the hearing and must be of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the field in forming opinions or inferences upon the subject and must be otherwise reasonably reliable.

Thus, the expert may obtain the requisite facts by a hypothetical question or by the expert’s personal knowledge or observations, or the facts may be learned at the trial. Wiley v. Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co., 729...