By: Derek Hawkins//July 24, 2018//
WI Court of Appeals – District I
Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Paul E. Ayala
Case No.: 2017AP1510-CR
Officials: BRASH, J.
Focus: OWI – Abuse of Discretion – Expert Witness
Paul E. Ayala appeals from his judgment of conviction, entered upon a jury’s verdict, for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OWI) as a third offense. Ayala argues that the trial court erred in excluding the testimony of Ayala’s expert witness relating to a medical diagnosis that Ayala intended to use in his defense. The trial court determined that because the expert was a pharmacologist, and not a medical doctor capable of making such a diagnosis, that his testimony in that regard was inadmissible. The State contends that this was a proper exercise of the trial court’s discretion. We agree and affirm.