Opinion ID: 1919806
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the court committed error in the admission of the autopsy report prepared by dr. sallie ann clausen, and in failing to require the presence of dr. clausen over may's objection.

Text: The trial court admitted the autopsy report compiled by Dr. Clausen as a record of regularly conducted activity, otherwise known as the business records exception to the hearsay rule, pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Evidence 803(6). May individually claims that the admission of Dr. Clausen's autopsy report through the testimony of the medical examiner, Johnny Earl Smith, denied him his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation. May argues that the autopsy report contained expert opinions making it necessary for Dr. Clausen to have personally testified and faced cross-examination at trial. May alludes to the portion of M.R.E. 803(6) which says that business records are not admissible if the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness. In Kettle v. State, 641 So.2d 746, 750 (Miss. 1994), this Court reversed the trial court and held that the defendant was entitled to require that the individual responsible for conducting the laboratory tests on the content of an alleged controlled substance appear and testify in person. See Barnette v. State, 481 So.2d 788, 790 (Miss. 1985) (concluding that admission of certificate of analysis regarding controlled substance without testimony of analyst responsible for preparing such was reversible error); Spears v. State, 241 So.2d 148, 149 (Miss. 1970) (finding reversible error where lab technicians were not offered as witnesses when testimony of doctor relied on lab technician report). This Court concluded that a custodian of the Mississippi Crime Lab records may introduce laboratory reports only when the defendant does not object on the grounds that he is entitled under the Sixth Amendment to confront the person who prepared the test. Kettle, 641 So.2d at 750; see Ellis v. State, No. 91-KA-00710-SCT, slip op. at 12, 1996 WL 135644 (Miss. March 30, 1995) (distinguishing Kettle on grounds that defendant Ellis failed to make pre-trial motion or object at trial on grounds that testifying witness had not prepared laboratory tests in question); Lentz v. State, 604 So.2d 243, 249 (Miss. 1992) (holding that circuit court erred by refusing to admit lab report through testimony of lab custodian under M.R.E. 803(6) where defendant failed to make a Sixth Amendment right to confrontation objection); Gilleylen v. State, 255 So.2d 661, 663 (Miss. 1971) (holding that in order to guarantee defendant's right of confrontation, pathologist who relied on technician report to form an opinion must testify subsequent to technician who prepared report in order that State properly confronts defendant with technician witness). Only when hearsay evidence qualifies under a firmly rooted hearsay exception can it be admitted over a right to confrontation objection by the defendant. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2539, 65 L.Ed.2d 597, 608 (1987). An autopsy report is not considered one of these firmly rooted exceptions because they may include expert opinions and information outside of the coroner's office. Manocchio v. Moran, 919 F.2d 770, 777 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 910, 111 S.Ct. 1695, 114 L.Ed.2d 89 (1990). In the case at hand, May filed and argued a motion in limine to exclude the introduction of Dr. Clausen's autopsy report through the testimony of Johnny Earl Smith, the Washington County Medical Examiner, on the ground that his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation was being violated because Smith had not performed the autopsy himself. May renewed his objection on this same specific ground at trial. Through these procedural mechanisms, May appropriately preserved his right to confront Dr. Clausen at trial and for purposes of this appeal. May was subsequently denied his request to confront Dr. Clausen. The trial court proceeded to allow the autopsy reports into evidence through the testimony of Smith who had not personally conducted the autopsy. Thus, the trial court committed error by admitting this hearsay testimony regarding the victim's cause of death. While it was error to admit the autopsy report without producing the author, we conclude that it was harmless. In Flowers v. State, 243 So.2d 564, 565 (Miss. 1971), this Court found error when the trial court admitted an autopsy report into evidence through the testimony of individuals who had not been responsible for preparing them. The autopsy report showed the cause of death to be a gunshot wound to head. Id. This Court went on to hold that the error was harmless because the information regarding the deceased's cause of death had been exhaustively established by every other witness who testified for the State. Id. at 566. The trial court in Williams v. State, 440 So.2d 312, 314 (Miss. 1983,) admitted a hospital record regarding the victim's cause of death without presenting as a witness at trial the physician who prepared the report. This was deemed erroneous on the ground that experts often disagree over the types of opinions and conclusions contained in autopsy reports. Id. While it was error to admit these reports, we definitively held that it was harmless in light of the fact that the State produced ample additional evidence establishing the cause of death to be a car collision. Id. The present case is analogous to Flowers and Williams in that the State produced an overwhelming amount of evidence showing that May murdered Hunter. The prosecution presented four eyewitnesses who observed May fire a weapon fatally wounding Hunter. These witnesses identified at trial a .44 magnum as the weapon utilized by May. Through the testimony of three additional eyewitnesses, the State directly linked May to the recovered .44 magnum. The medical examiner was responsible for personally removing lead and a copper casing from the victim's body which was determined by a forensic scientist to be a projectile fired from the exact same.44 magnum recovered by the police. Therefore, it was established beyond a reasonable doubt by evidence other than the autopsy report that the victim's cause of death was a gunshot wound inflicted by May and his .44 magnum. With the evidence against May being so persuasive, we are left to hold that the trial court error entailing the introduction of the coroner's report through the testimony of Smith was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.