California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Perez, B284668 (Cal. App. 2019):
"A trial court has broad discretion to exclude relevant evidence under Evidence Code section 352 'if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will (a) necessitate undue consumption of time or (b) create substantial danger of undue prejudice, of confusing the issues, or of misleading the jury.' [Citations.] Such 'discretion extends to the admission or exclusion of expert testimony.' [Citations.] We review rulings regarding relevancy and Evidence Code section 352 under an abuse of discretion standard." (People v. Linton (2013) 56 Cal.4th 1146, 1181.)
An expert witness may be fully cross-examined as to the matter upon which his or her opinion is based and the reasons for his or her opinion. (Evid. Code, 721, subd. (a); People v. Ledesma (2006) 39 Cal.4th 641, 695.) However, an expert "may not under the guise of stating reasons for an opinion bring before
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the jury incompetent hearsay evidence. [Citation.] A trial court has considerable discretion to control the form in which the expert is questioned to prevent the jury from learning of incompetent hearsay." (People v. Price (1991) 1 Cal.4th 324, 416.)
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