Washington DUI Blog

On June 25, 2009, the US Supreme Court released its decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts. This case will have an impact on Washington State DUI defendants.

In this case the trial court admitted into evidence affidavits reporting the results of forensic analysis which showed that material seized by the police and connected to the defendant was cocaine. The question presented to the Supreme Court was whether those affidavits were “testimonial,” rendering the affiants “witnesses” subject to the defendant’s right of confrontation under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The US Supreme Court held that the admissibility of these affidavits violated the defendant’s right to confrontation and the government is required to present the witnesses at trial.

This decision is extremely important to Washington State DUI defendants because it eliminates Criminal Rule for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (“CrRLJ”) 6.13, which states in part:

(a) Rules of Evidence. The Rules of Evidence are applicable
to criminal prosecutions.
(b) Test Reports by Experts.
(1) Generally. The official written report of an expert
witness which contains the results of any test of a substance or
object which are relevant to an issue in a trial shall be
admitted in evidence without further proof or foundation as prima
facie evidence of the facts stated in the report if the report
bears the following certification:

CrRLJ 6.13 is now unconstitutional and the government will now be required to bring all of their witnesses to each and every trial agasint a Washington State DUI defendant.

If you need legal representation for a Washington State DUI then feel free to contact the lawyers at Fox Bowman Duarte, L.L.P. for a free consultation.