United States v. Elwyn Has the Eagle, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Defendant Elwyn Floyd Has The Eagle, Jr., timely appeals his convictions for first-degree murder, second-degree murder, two counts of felony murder, and burglary. We affirm.

Reviewing the district court’s evi-dentiary rulings for abuse of discretion, United States v. Redlightning, 624 F.3d 1090, 1110 (9th Cir.2010), we hold that the district court acted within the discretion vested in it by Federal Rule of Evidence 702 when the court reasonably concluded that Defendant’s expert, a social worker without any medical training, could not testify reliably about Defendant’s medications or the effects of those medications on Defendant. See United States v. Chang, 207 F.3d 1169, 1172 (9th Cir.2000) (holding that the admissibility of expert testimony is “ ‘a subject peculiarly within the sound discretion of the trial judge, who alone must decide the qualifications of the expert on a given subject and the extent to which his opinions may be required’ ” (quoting Fineberg v. United States, 393 F.2d 417, 421 (9th Cir.1968))). And, because the expert could testify reliably about some things but not others, the district court reasonably concluded that it could not give Defendant…