This brief challenges a police officer’s testimony opining that a shooter pictured in surveillance footage and the defendant were the same height. The officer based his opinion on his visual observation of surveillance footage and measurements of the height of markings in the store. The Florida appellate court agreed that this was impermissible lay opinion testimony that invaded the province of the jury and required specialized expertise (https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-district-court-of-appeal/2076011.html).
Pages 17 – 23: Discuss the science of photogrammetry – the process of discerning the size of objects in a photograph – and explain how estimates of an individual’s height in a photograph or video require expert calculations based on geometry, physics, and photogrammetric triangulation. As a result, the brief argues that only a qualified expert can opine about the height of an individual in a photo or video, and a police officer’s opinion based on visual observation of the photos/video is unreliable, untethered from science, and inadmissible under both due process and evidentiary rules.