The Admissibility of the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) Field Sobriety Test and Lay Opinion Testimony in State v. Baue

Abstract

INTRODUCTION|In 1986, the Supreme Court of Nebraska implicitly concluded in State v. Borchardt, that the horizontal gaze nystagmus ("HGN") field sobriety test was not admissible at trial because the scientific principle upon which the test was based was not generally accepted in the scientific community. Since Borchardt, a number of Nebraska cases have analyzed the admissibility of scientific evidence. Nebraska law requires a trial court to decide, preliminarily, whether the scientific principle was accepted in the scientific community...