NJ DWI Trial – Laboratory Certificate Admitted Without Lab Technician Present

The trial was troubling. The laboratory technician who analyzed my client’s blood was not called as a witness by the State (she was not available). This made her certified laboratory result (the analysis of her blood for alcohol) inadmissible “hearsay.”

The Judge allowed the laboratory certificate into evidence despite clear authority that prohibits the introduction. I have always despised injustice. I get passionate in the face of injustice. The Court’s ruling was quite disturbing. There is New Jersey legal authority supporting the defense position that the laboratory certificate is inadmissible without the technician being available for cross examination. From a constitutional point of view, the Defendant has a right to confront the accuser – thus, since a document cannot be cross-examined, the facts contained in the document cannot be admitted against a defendant.

In addition to New Jersey Law, there was a recent United States Supreme Court case, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, that without question, prohibits the introduction of a laboratory certificate without producing the laboratory technician.

My client was found not guilty of careless driving, and not guilty of dwi based on the observations. She was however, found guilty of dwi but based only on the laboratory certificate showing her blood alcohol concentration. The guilty finding was based solely on a document that was improperly admitted. The sentence was, at my request, held in abeyance (“stayed”) pending an appeal. I am 100% confident that the conviction will be overturned.