Court Opinion

ID: 9627544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:47:32.664724+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:46.826640
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, J.,
dissents.
V.
THE RESULTS OF A DNA-BASED GENETIC TEST OF BODILY FLUIDS ARE NOT ADMISSIBLE AS MEDICAL FACTS IN A PRELIMINARY HEARING BASED ON THE AFFIDAVIT OF THE DIRECTOR OF A PRIVATE LABORATORY.
THE RESULTS ARE ALSO NOT ADMISSIBLE UNDER I.R.E. 803(24), IN THE ABSENCE OF FINDINGS SATISFYING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE RULE.
Horsley asserts that the report of the results of the DNA-PRINT analysis attached to the affidavit of the director of the clinical laboratories of Lifecodes was not admissible in the preliminary hearing. We agree.
Horsley objected to the admission of the report under I.C.R. 5.1(b). This rule relates to the probable cause finding at a preliminary hearing. With regard to the receipt of hearsay at the preliminary hearing, it states:
The finding of probable cause shall be based upon substantial evidence upon every material element of the offense charged; provided that hearsay in the form of testimony, or affidavits, may be *927admitted to show the existence or nonexistence of business or medical facts and records, judgments and conviction of courts, ownership of real or personal property and reports of scientific examinations of evidence by state or federal agencies or officials, provided the magistrate determines the source of said evidence to be credible. Provided, nothing in this rule shall prevent the admission of evidence under any recognized exception to the hearsay rule of evidence.
(Emphasis added.)
In upholding the decision of the magistrate to admit the report, the district judge premised his decision on the conclusion that the report (1) showed the existence or nonexistence of medical facts and (2) was admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule under I.R.E. 803(24). We hold that the report was admissible on neither of these grounds.
I.C.R. 5.1(b) distinguishes between hearsay in the form of affidavits showing the existence or nonexistence of medical facts and records and reports of scientific examinations of evidence by state or federal agencies or officials. The Lifecodes report was a report of a scientific examination of evidence, not a report showing the existence or nonexistence of medical facts.
“Medical” is defined as: “Pertaining, relating or belonging to the study and practice of medicine, or the science and art of the investigation, prevention, cure, and alleviation of disease.” BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 885 (5th ed. 1979). The “practice of medicine” is defined in our statutes as meaning:
(a) To investigate, diagnose, treat, correct, or prescribe for any human disease, ailment, injury, infirmity, deformity, or other condition, physical or mental, by any means or instrumentality, or
(b) To apply principles or techniques of medical science in the prevention of any of the conditions listed in subsection (a) of this section, or
(c) To offer, undertake, attempt to do or hold oneself out as able to do any of the acts described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section.
I.C. § 54-1803(1) (1988).
The report at issue here did not purport to relate to the investigation, diagnosis, treatment, correction or prescription for any disease, ailment, injury, infirmity, deformity or other condition, physical or mental. Rather, it compared the genetic identity of the blood of Horsley and the victim with that of the victim’s vaginal secretions containing sperm from the perpetrator of the rape. The director of the Lifecodes laboratory who signed the affidavit to which the report was attached did not purport to be a medical doctor. The report concerned the results of scientific examinations and not medical facts or reports. While we acknowledge that some scientific examinations concern medical facts, this exhibit did not. Therefore, the report was not admissible, unless it was admissible under I.R.E. 803(24).
I.R.E. 803(24) follows twenty-two exceptions to the hearsay rule listed in I.R.E. 803(1) through (22). (I.R.E. 803(23) is “Reserved.”) These other exceptions are clearly recognized exceptions to the hearsay rule as referred to in I.C.R. 5.1(b). In State v. Hester, 114 Idaho 688, 760 P.2d 27 (1988), and State v. Giles, 115 Idaho 984, 772 P.2d 191 (1989), we upheld the admission of evidence under I.R.E. 803(24). In Hester we noted that the comments to I.R.E. 803(24) of the Idaho State Bar Evidence Committee explained that this “other exception” subsection of the rule recognizes that not every contingency can be treated by detailed rules and that the hearsay rule has never been a closed system and should not be. 114 Idaho at 696, 760 P.2d at 35.
In Hester we said:
To be admissible under I.R.E. 803(24), the court must determine that (A) the statement has circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness equivalent to those in Rules 803(1) to 803(23), (B) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact, (C) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can *928procure through reasonable efforts, and (D) the general purposes of the rules of evidence, and the interests of justice, will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. Further, (E) a statement may not be admitted under I.R.E. 803(24) unless its proponent gives the adverse party adequate notice and information regarding use of the statement. Once these elements are met, the I.R.E. 803(24) exception is equally as valid as any other hearsay exception, such as the universally accepted present sense impression and the excited utterance exceptions, etc.
114 Idaho at 697, 760 P.2d at 36.
In upholding the admission of hearsay under I.R.E. 803(24) in Hester, we carefully reviewed the specific findings of the trial court as to each of these five requirements of the rule. In Giles we also upheld the admission of hearsay under I.R.E. 803(24). In doing so we noted:
All of the I.R.E. 803(24) requirements were addressed by the trial court in determining the admissibility of the hearsay evidence. The trial court evaluated the hearsay statements for relevancy, need and reliability____ The analysis required by I.R.E. 803(24) and Hester contemplates that the trial court will look at all the other evidence to determine whether it tends to corroborate the hearsay statement, before the trial court concludes that the hearsay statement has the same circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness equivalent to the other hearsay exceptions.
115 Idaho at 987, 772 P.2d at 194.
The difficulty in applying I.R.E. 803(24) to the admission of the Lifecodes report in this case is that the magistrate did not purport to admit the report under the rule and, therefore, did not address the five requirements that must be met to make the exception equally as valid as any other hearsay exception. The district judge did not evaluate the admissibility of the report under the rule by specifically finding that the five requirements stated in the rule were satisfied. After ruling that the report was admissible as showing the existence or nonexistence of medical facts, the district judge said: “I would just comment that with respect to the exception 803(24), I think this is admissible under that section, also.” The only one of the five requirements of the rule addressed by the district judge was the adequacy of notice requirement.
While we are prepared to defer to the discretion of the trial courts in the admission of evidence, we are not prepared to endorse the exercise of discretion to admit evidence under I.R.E. 803(24) unless the trial court makes specific findings that each of the five requirements of the rule have been satisfied. Otherwise, we will not be able to determine whether the trial court considered all of the requirements that must be met before evidence is admitted under I.R.E. 803(24) and properly exercised its discretion in admitting the evidence.
It is clear from the transcript of the preliminary hearing that the magistrate would not have concluded that there was probable cause, if the Lifecodes report had not been admitted. At the conclusion of the hearing the magistrate said:
The only issue here is if there is Probable Cause to believe that the defendant, Mr. Horsley is the one that committed the rape. His activities on the evening in question are not inconsistent with his having been the perpetrator of this offense. Paying particular attention to page three of Plaintiff’s Exhibit #3 1 would note that indicates that the DNA pattern seen in the vaginal secretions matched the pattern from Todd Horsley. This pattern would occur in the population in one sample out of twelve million six hundred seventy-eight thousand six hundred sixty-seven (12,678,667). In view of the totality of the evidence I would find that there is reason to believe or Probable Cause to believe that Mr. Horsley is the perpetrator of this rape.
We have failed to overturn convictions for defects of proof in the preliminary hearing when at a fair trial the accused was found guilty upon sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict. State v. Streeper, *929113 Idaho 662, 664-65, 747 P.2d 71, 73-74 (1987); State v. Mitchell, 104 Idaho 493, 660 P.2d 1336, cert. denied, 461 U.S. 934, 103 S.Ct. 2101, 77 L.Ed.2d 308 (1983). However, Horsley entered a conditional plea specifically reserving the right to appeal the admission of the Lifecodes report. Since neither the magistrate nor the district judge made the necessary findings for the admission of the report under I.R.E. 803(24), we have no alternative but to reverse the decision of the district judge denying the motion to dismiss the information.
AS TO PART V:
BISTLINE, JOHNSON, and McDEVITT, JJ., concur.