Opinion ID: 1058590
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 31

Heading: Testimony of Dr. Levy

Text: Appellant filed a pretrial motion requesting that the court determine the proper scope of Dr. Bruce Levy's testimony at trial. Specifically, Appellant requested that Dr. Levy be prohibited from testifying regarding the autopsies of the victims, as Dr. Levy did not perform the autopsies. The autopsies were performed by assistant medical examiners who were no longer employed in the Davidson County Medical Examiner's Office. D'Angelo Lee's autopsy was performed by Dr. Ann Bucholtz, and Gregory Ewing's autopsy was performed by Dr. George Mizell. The court ruled that if the State laid the proper foundation at trial, the autopsy reports would be admissible as substantive evidence under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 803(6) as a business record, under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 803(8) as a public record, and under Tennessee Code Annotated section 38-7-110. Further, the court ruled that if the State laid the proper foundation for Dr. Levy's testimony as an expert, Dr. Levy would be permitted to express his opinions in his field and to communicate to the jury that he relied upon the autopsy reports in forming his opinion. Prior to Dr. Levy's testimony, Appellant objected, stating that because Dr. Levy did not personally retrieve any bullets from the bodies of the victims or see the same performed, the State could not establish the proper chain of custody of the bullets. Appellant argued that there was, therefore, a break in the chain of custody of the bullets, and the court should not permit testimony regarding the bullets. The State countered that the absence of one person's testimony in the chain of custody does not invalidate the chain. Furthermore, the State argued that the court had previously ruled that Dr. Levy would be permitted to testify based on the business records and public records exceptions to the hearsay rule. The court allowed the bullets into evidence and stated again that it would allow Dr. Levy to testify. The court cautioned the State, however, that it must establish the chain of custody. Dr. Levy testified that he did not perform the autopsies on the victims, but the office followed a definite procedure for recovering bullets from a body. He testified that when they recover a bullet, they secure it, place it in a marked container, and lock it in an evidence locker. Later, they turn the evidence over to the police. He testified that the bullets recovered from Gregory Ewing were marked with the appropriate case identification number and had the initials G.M. on the envelope. He could not testify as to the handwriting of the initials, but he noted that Dr. George Mizell performed Mr. Ewing's autopsy. He further noted that the bullets recovered from Gregory Ewing were turned over to Sergeant Hunter of the Metro Police Department. [4] Similarly, Dr. Levy testified that the bullets recovered from D'Angelo Lee were placed in a container with the appropriate case number and turned over to the Metro Police Department. [5] Dr. Levy admitted that he did not watch the autopsies as they were performed; therefore, he could not testify based on his personal knowledge that the bullets that had been placed into evidence were in fact bullets recovered from the victims. He stated that his testimony was based upon procedures followed in the medical examiner's office. Following Dr. Levy's testimony, Appellant renewed his previous objection. The court ruled that based on the testimony from the police officers regarding retrieval of the bullets from the medical examiner's office and the testimony of Dr. Levy that the proper procedure for securing and identifying the bullets had been followed, the proper chain of custody had been established by the State. The court further ruled there was no suspicion surrounding the authenticity of the bullets. The autopsy reports are admissible hearsay under Rules 803(6) and 803(8) of the Tennessee Rules of Evidence. See also State v. Mario Hawkins, No. 01C01-9701-CR-00014, 1998 WL 352095, at -7 (Tenn.Crim.App. at Nashville, July 2, 1998). Further the autopsy reports are admissible as a public document pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 38-7-110. The court did not err in allowing Dr. Levy to testify in this regard. It is a fundamental rule of law that the State must establish an unbroken chain of custody in order to present physical proof into evidence. State v. Scott, 33 S.W.3d 746, 760 (Tenn.2000); State v. Holbrooks, 983 S.W.2d 697, 701 (Tenn.Crim.App.1998). However, every witness that handled the evidence in the chain is not required to testify in order to establish a lack of tampering with the evidence. Rather, the State is required to reasonably establish the identity of the evidence and its integrity. Scott, 33 S.W.3d at 760; Holbrooks, 983 S.W.2d at 701. This Court reviews the trial court's decision on whether the State has established the proper chain of custody of physical evidence under an abuse of discretion standard. Based upon the evidence in the record and the trial court's ruling on the same, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the State had met its burden of establishing the proper chain of custody. This issue is without merit.