Third Circuit Upholds Testimony re Drug Jargon

In an unpublished opinion issued Thursday, the Third Circuit upheld the admissibility of a narcotics agent's testimony that certain language used in defendants' recorded telephone conversations was drug jargon. This is, of course, the usual result. The surprising thing is that the Court of Appeals characterized it as a "close question" whether the testimony was helpful to the trier of fact. More searching inquiry was apparently unnecessary, because any error was held to be harmless.

Laudably, the Third Circuit makes even its nonprecedential decisions available on the internet. See United States v. Bennett, No. 01-3412 (3d Cir. Aug. 29, 2003) (Scirica, Rendell, & Ambro, JJ.).