Opinion ID: 2069685
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Narcotics

Text: After handing Officer Farr the heat-sealed envelope and its contents which constituted Government's Exhibit 3 (see note 5, supra ), the prosecutor began to question him about those contents. In response to the question, Do those [ziplock bags containing drugs] appear to be similar to the ones you recovered from the brown paper bag on February 24th?, Officer Farr said, Yes, they are (emphasis added). Appellant takes issue with the phrase appear to be similar and argues this was insufficient to establish a chain of custody. This argument is meritless, for at least two reasons. First, it misreads the testimony. Officer Farr's answer was not that the drugs appeared to be similar to the ones he recovered, but rather that they were in fact the actual drugs. Second, whether Officer Farr testified that the drugs appeared to be similar or that they were in fact the same, any interpretation that a trier of fact might give to such potential variations in the testimony would affect only its weight, not its admissibility. See Guishard v. United States, 669 A.2d 1306, 1312 (D.C.1995); Turney v. United States, 626 A.2d 872, 874 (D.C.1993) (evidence held to be sufficient when, in response to questions whether the drugs in the heat-sealed envelope looked the same or similar to the drugs seized, each officer said they did). Appellant's contention regarding Government's Exhibit 3 is not actually a sufficiency challenge, but rather an admissibility challenge. Therefore, the only question before us is whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the paper bag and its contents into evidence over defense counsel's objection. See Brown v. United States, 567 A.2d 426, 427 (D.C.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1037, 110 S.Ct. 1497, 108 L.Ed.2d 632 (1990). It is generally recognized that tangible objects become admissible in evidence only when proof of their original acquisition and subsequent custody forges their connection with the accused and the criminal offense. Gass v. United States, 135 U.S.App.D.C. 11, 14 n. 8, 416 F.2d 767, 770 n. 8 (1969) (citations omitted); see Turney v. United States, supra, 626 A.2d at 873. However, when the item has been in the possession of government officials charged with its keeping, the court may assume, absent evidence of tampering, that the officials properly discharged their duties. Ford v. United States, 396 A.2d 191, 194 (D.C.1978); accord, e.g., Spencer v. District of Columbia, 615 A.2d 586, 589 (D.C.1992). In this case, each officer who handled the drugs found in the paper bag identified by name the person from whom he received the drugs and described what he did with them, up to the time the drugs were placed in the heat-sealed envelope and secured for analysis by the chemist. After reviewing the report of the chain of custody, Officer Smith, the government's expert witness, testified that it appeared to be in order. In addition, there was no evidence of tampering, nor was there any time period, from the seizure to the trial, during which the evidence was unaccounted for. See Turney v. United States, supra, 626 A.2d at 875. These facts, coupled with the normal presumption of regularity, entitled the trial judge permissibly to exercise his discretion in favor of admitting the evidence. Ford v. United States, supra, 396 A.2d at 195 (citation omitted). We find no error. Appellant's conviction is therefore Affirmed.