Opinion ID: 1946911
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Trial Objection to the Blood Test Results

Text: The defendant filed a motion in limine to exclude the results of the blood test based on inadequate consent for the test and inadequate foundation for establishing the reliability of the test results. When the court denied the motion on the issue of consent, the issue of foundation remained pending. Thereafter, counsel and the court treated the issue of foundation as one of the admissibility of evidence at trial. On appeal, the defendant contends that the results of his test were erroneously admitted into evidence over his objection because the State failed to establish a foundation for the reliability of the test results. We treat this issue because it is likely to arise again in the event of re-trial of the defendant. In State v. Brewer, 344 A.2d 54, 56 (Me.1975), we noted that the results of a blood test are usable as evidence of the condition of the person from whom the blood sample was taken if four requirements are met. The first requirement involves a sufficient foundation for the blood test. The manufacturer's certificate on a blood kit constitutes prima facie evidence that the contents of the kit are pure as opposed to adulterated. 344 A.2d at 56 n. 1; State v. Rines, 269 A.2d 9, 15 (Me.1970). Because the physician obtained the syringe used to draw the defendant's blood from the emergency room and not from the standard blood kit, the manufacturer's certificate did not apply to the condition of the syringe used. [9] The State offered no testimony establishing that the syringe was sterile at the time the physician drew the defendant's blood. During defense counsel's voir dire examination of the analytical chemist on the issues of chain of custody and foundation for the test results, the chemist testified that he had no personal knowledge of the condition of the syringe when used and that he did not analyze the syringe for impurities. The chemist agreed that if there had been cocaine or benzoylecgonine on the hospital syringe before it was used, its presence would have been reflected in the test result. If that had occurred, the accuracy of the blood test result, in reflecting the defendant's condition, would certainly have been destroyed. At the close of the voir dire examination, defense counsel renewed his objection concerning the admissibility of the chemist's testimony concerning the blood test results, based on inadequate foundation establishing the reliability of the results. The court overruled the objection and admitted the results of the defendant's blood test. Under Rule 703, M.R.Evid., an expert may base an opinion on facts or data that are not admissible in evidence. Rule 705, M.R.Evid., however, provides: Objection. An adverse party may object to the testimony of an expert on the ground that he does not have a sufficient basis for expressing an opinion. He may before the witness gives his opinion be allowed to conduct in the absence of the jury a voir dire examination directed to the underlying facts or data on which the opinion is based. If a prima facie case is made that the expert does not have sufficient basis for his opinion, the opinion is inadmissible unless the party offering the testimony first establishes the underlying facts or data. The defendant adequately challenged the sufficiency of the basis of the chemist's testimony concerning the results of the blood test. We conclude that at the voir dire examination the defendant established a prima facie case that the chemist had insufficient facts and data on which to base his opinion concerning the reliability of, and the results of, the blood test due to a total lack of foundation establishing use of a sterile syringe. The reliability that the trier of fact may ascribe to the preservation and analysis of a blood sample must be shown. Rines, 269 A.2d at 16. On this record, the results of the defendant's blood test were inadmissible and the erroneous admission of the blood test results constituted reversible error. Brewer, 344 A.2d at 56; Rule 103(a)(1), M.R.Evid. We need not reach the issues raised by the defendant concerning the propriety of the trial justice's ruling on the motion in limine or concerning the admissibility at trial of statements made by the defendant to the doctor at the hospital. The entry will be Order denying Motion to Suppress vacated. Judgment of conviction vacated. Remanded to the Superior Court for further proceedings consistent with the opinion herein, including a new evidentiary hearing on defendant's Motion to Suppress evidence, conducted by a justice other than that justice who heard the original Motion. All concurring.