Faustin v. State
The Fourth DCA reversed vehicular homicide and reckless driving convictions because the trial court allowed a police detective to testify to vehicle speeds using a 'momentum formula' as lay investigative testimony, when it actually constituted expert opinion requiring a section 90.702 Daubert analysis that was never conducted. The court found the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the detective's flawed calculations (based on internet-averaged vehicle weights, rough angle estimates, and a lost field sketch) purported to corroborate event-data-recorder evidence central to the recklessness element. The court affirmed the six-person jury and the probation revocation but vacated the VOP sentence for resentencing with a corrected scoresheet given the substantive case reversal.
Key facts
- Faustin was convicted of vehicular homicide and reckless driving in the trial court, with the State relying partly on a police detective's testimony calculating vehicle speed using a 'momentum formula' presented as lay investigative opinion.
- The detective's speed calculations were based on internet-averaged vehicle weights, rough angle estimates, and a lost field sketch, and the trial court admitted the testimony without conducting a Daubert reliability analysis required for expert opinion under section 90.702.
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Why it matters
This opinion gives criminal defense practitioners a useful tool in vehicular homicide, DUI manslaughter, and other crash cases where law enforcement witnesses offer speed or trajectory calculations dressed up as mere… — full analysis with a trial
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