Court Opinion

ID: 9627546
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:47:32.67307+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:46.829697
License: Public Domain

BAKES, Chief Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur fully in Parts I, III and IV of the Court’s opinion. Regarding Part II, there is substantial authority to support an argument that the trial court’s minute entry order entered on December 14, 1987, was itself sufficient to dismiss the action. See, e.g., Fisher v. Eckert, 94 Cal.App.2d 890, 212 P.2d 64, 67 (1949) (“Entry in minutes of a dismissal by the court constitutes entry of the judgment.”); Stockwell v. State, 98 Idaho 797, 573 P.2d 116 (1977); State v. Collins, 112 Wash.2d 303, 771 P.2d 350 (1989); E.J. Smith Construction Co. v. Burton, 262 Md. 62, 277 A.2d 84 (1971); Baty v. City of West Des Moines, 259 Iowa 1017, 147 N.W.2d 204 (1966); Jones v. Busby, 37 Okl.Cr. 68, 256 P. 758 (1927); 27 C.J.S. Dismissal & Nonsuit § 72 (1959 and updates). Nevertheless, as the Court’s opinion in Part III correctly points out, the trial court’s April 21, 1988, order which dismissed the first action “nunc pro tunc to December 14, 1987,” effectively terminated the action as of December 14, 1987. Accordingly, I concur with the conclusion reached by the majority that the first information was dismissed as of December 14, 1987.
Regarding Part V, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the DNA-PRINT test results were inadmissible evidence for purposes of determining probable cause under I.C.R. 5.1(b) because they were not “medical facts.” Also, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that “[s]ince neither the magistrate nor the district judge made the necessary findings for the admission of the [DNA-PRINT] 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.” At 929, 792 P.2d at 954.
On appeal Horsley argues that the district court erroneously affirmed the magistrate’s decision to admit at the probable cause hearing State’s Exhibit 3 (the affidavit of Dr. Ivan Balazs, Ph.D., Lifecodes’ Clinical Laboratory Director, with the attached DNA-PRINT test results). Horsley contends that these documents are hearsay and inadmissible under both I.C.R. 5.1(b) and I.R.E. 803(24). Specifically, concerning I.C.R. 5.1(b), Horsley contends that: (1) Dr. Balazs’ affidavit was not in proper form; and (2) the DNA-PRINT test results were not “medical facts,” but rather “scientific examination,” and that only affidavits of federal agencies or officials, not private entities or persons, are admissible to prove the results of “scientific examinations.” It is upon the second ground that the majority reverses the district court’s ruling that State’s Exhibit 3 was admissible under I.C.R.' 5.1(b) at the probable cause hearing.
As to the first contention that the affidavit was not in proper form, the affidavit states:
I, Ivan Balazs, being first duly sworn on oath, deposes and says that I authored the report (FB 03248) and oversaw the conduct of the scientific analysis therein, in the ordinary course and scope of my duties for Lifecodes Corporation. The conclusions reflected in the report are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.
*930(Emphasis added.) Balazs signed the foregoing sworn statement before a notary public in the State of New York. Appellant has made no showing, nor supplied any authority, which would indicate that the affidavit was inadequate by the laws of the State of New York where it was executed. Error will not be presumed on appeal. Gaither v. EG & G Idaho, 106 Idaho 675, 676, 682 P.2d 628, 629 (1984) (“It is axiomatic that we will not presume error on appeal, but that error must be shown affirmatively by appellant on the record.”). See, Loomis, Inc. v. Cudahy, 104 Idaho 106, 656 P.2d 1359 (1982); Payette Farms Co. v. Conter, 103 Idaho 148, 645 P.2d 888 (1982); Woods v. Crouse, 101 Idaho 764, 620 P.2d 798 (1980); Rutter v. McLaughlin, 101 Idaho 292, 612 P.2d 135 (1980). Appellant has made no showing of error, and accordingly, this part of appellant’s claim should be rejected.
Horsley’s second ground, and the ground upon which the majority reverses the district court, is that I.C.R. 5.1(b), while permitting hearsay in the form of testimony or affidavits to show the existence of medical facts and records, limits the admission of hearsay reports of scientific examinations to reports of state or federal agencies or officials.1 Horsley argues that the affidavit of Dr. Balazs refers to scientific examination facts, rather than medical facts, and as a result only the affidavits of governmental agencies or officials, not private entities or individuals such as Dr. Balazs, were admissible under I.C.R. 5.1. Horsley’s argument requires this Court to interpret I.C.R. 5.1(b) for the first time and to define and distinguish between medical facts and scientific facts. I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the Lifecodes report of DNA-PRINT test results “was a report of a scientific examination of evidence, not a report showing the existence or nonexistence of medical facts.” At 927, 792 P.2d at 952.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary lists one of the definitions of “medicine” as “the science and art of dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease.” (Emphasis added.) Black’s Law Dictionary (5th ed.) also defines “medical” as pertaining to the “science and art of investigation, prevention, cure, and alleviation of disease.” (Emphasis added.) It thus appears that medicine is a science as well as an art, and thus medical facts are a subset of the general category of scientific facts. Medical investigations and examinations are a specialized segment of the larger category of all scientific investigation or examinations. I.C.R. 5.1(b) does not disclose why only' affidavits of scientific examinations conducted by governmental entities are admitted, while affidavits regarding medical facts are not limited to governmental entities or individuals, but include private entities and individuals. One possible explanation could be that I.C.R. 5.1(b) reflects the reality that most medical examinations and testing take place in the private sector and that the quality of that testing and examinations appear to be uniformly high, giving it a presumption of reliability. Whatever may be the reason, I.C.R. 5.1(b) provides that hearsay in the form of affidavits of private individuals or entities of medical facts and records is admissible. Even though such medical facts may be derived from scientific examinations, they are nevertheless expressly admissible by affidavit under I.C.R. 5.1(b).
The issue then becomes whether the committing magistrate abused his discretion in concluding that the DNA-PRINT test results and report attached to the affidavit of Dr. Balazs contained evidence of medical *931facts and records so as to be admissible under I.C.R. 5.1(b). Soria v. Sierra Pacific Airlines, Inc., 111 Idaho 594, 606, 726 P.2d 706, 718 (1986) (“Idaho grants trial judges ‘broad discretion as to the admission of evidence and the exercise of that discretion will not be overturned absent a clear showing of abuse.’ Cheney v. Palos Verdes Investment Corp., 104 Idaho 897, 900, 665 P.2d 661, 664 (1983).”). This discretion given to the magistrate stems from the fact that the magistrate need only find probable cause, and that if the defendant is bound over for trial, the State must then prove its case at trial beyond a reasonable doubt. Even if the magistrate is found to have erred, this Court in State v. Mitchell, 104 Idaho 493, 660 P.2d 1336 (1983), stated, “Even if the magistrate erred in relying on evidence at the preliminary hearing that is ultimately determined to be inadmissible, the error is not a ground for vacating a conviction where the appellant received a fair trial and was convicted, and there is sufficient evidence to sustain the conviction.” See also, State v. Maylett, 108 Idaho 671, 701 P.2d 291 (Ct.App.1985); State v. Streeper, 113 Idaho 662, 747 P.2d 71 (1987). Although the defendant Horsley pleaded guilty, rather than being found guilty by a jury, a guilty plea admits the truth of all of the truth of all of the facts alleged in the information, even though the defendant maintains his innocence, as the defendant has done in this case. State v. Coffin, 104 Idaho 543, 661 P.2d 328 (1983) (a valid guilty plea, voluntarily and understandingly given, is a judicial admission of all facts charged by the indictment or information even though the defendant is maintaining his innocence); State v. Tipton, 99 Idaho 670, 587 P.2d 305 (1978); Still v. State, 97 Idaho 375, 544 P.2d 1145 (1976); State v. Jackson, 96 Idaho 584, 532 P.2d 926 (1975); Lockard v. State, 92 Idaho 813, 451 P.2d 1014 (1969); Clark v. State, 92 Idaho 827, 452 P.2d 54 (1969).
Accordingly, I believe that the magistrate did not abuse his discretion in concluding that the DNA-PRINT test results contained in the affidavit of Dr. Balazs referred to “medical facts” within I.C.R. 5.1(b), and thus the magistrate did not err in admitting the affidavit of Dr. Balazs. The DNA-PRINT test results were facts concerning the genetic pattern from the DNA in body fluids from the defendant Horsley. Those fluids were from a sample of blood which he had voluntarily given to the police, and the semen taken from the vagina of the rape victim immediately after the rape. The genetic pattern of the DNA molecule in Horsley’s blood matched the genetic pattern of the semen taken from the rape victim immediately after the rape. As the affidavit of Dr. Balazs points out, the possibility of two Caucasian persons having the same DNA pattern is one out of billions.2 I believe that examinations of the human body, including scientific testing of the tissue and fluids, are sufficiently related to medical science that the magistrate did not abuse his discretion in concluding that the affidavit of Dr. Balazs referred to “medical facts” within the meaning of I.C.R. 5.1(b). Accordingly, we should rule that the magistrate did not err in admitting State’s Exhibit 3 at the probable cause hearing.
Because State’s Exhibit 3 should be admissible under I.C.R. 5.1(b) it is not necessary to determine whether the exhibit is also admissible under I.R.E. 803(24). However, the majority concludes that the exhibit is inadmissible not only under I.C.R. 5.1(b) but also because neither lower court made a specific finding that the exhibit was also admissible under I.R.E. 803(24). The *932majority quotes State v. Hester, 114 Idaho 688, 760 P.2d 27 (1988), for the proposition that for evidence to be admissible under I.R.E. 803(24) the court must determine whether five requirements are met. The five requirements are specifically contained in I.R.E. 803(24).3 While the majority correctly notes that the magistrate did not consider admissibility under I.R.E. 803(24) and the district court did not make specific findings as to each of the five requirements of I.R.E. 803(24), I do not agree with its conclusion that we therefore “have no other alternative but to reverse the decision of the district judge denying the motion to dismiss the information.” At 929, 792 P.2d at 954. One alternative to reversal would be to conduct such an analysis here on appeal. However, a better course would be to remand to the magistrate court with instructions for it to make a full and specific analysis as to whether State’s Exhibit 3 meets the five requirements under I.R.E. 803(24). See, e.g., Pope v. Intermountain Gas Co., 103 Idaho 217, 225, 646 P.2d 988, 996 (1982) (“The absence of findings and conclusions may be disregarded by the appellate court only where the record is clear, and yields as obvious answer to the relevant question____ Absent such circumstances, the failure of the trial court to make findings of fact and conclusions of law concerning the material issues ... will necessitate a reversal of the judgment and a remand for additional findings and conclusions, unless such findings and conclusions would not affect the judgment entered.”)

. I.C.R. 5.1 reads in relevant part:
Rule 5.1. Preliminary hearing — Probable cause hearing — Discharge or commitment of defendant — Procedure.—____
(b) ... 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 admitted to show the existence or nonexistence of business or medical facts and records, judgments and convictions 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.

. Genetic identification is a modern and highly precise identification method increasingly accepted by courts. See, e.g., United States v. Kandiel, 865 F.2d 967 (8th Cir.1989); Spencer v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 275, 384 S.E.2d 775 (1989); Cobey v. State, 73 Md.App. 233, 533 A.2d 944 (1987); cf. People v. Castro, 45 Cr.L. 2375 (N.Y.Sup.Ct., Bronx Cty., 1989). Likewise, statistical probabilities, such as Dr. Balazs’ mathematical conclusion, as contained in an addendum to his original report, that the DNA pattern in Horsley’s blood sample matched the DNA pattern in the vaginal secretions, a pattern which would occur in a Caucasian population in 1:33,560,433,190 are admissible. United States v. Kandiel, 865 F.2d 967 (8th Cir.1989); United States v. Gwaltney, 790 F.2d 1378 (9th Cir.1986), cert. denied 479 U.S. 1104, 107 S.Ct. 1337, 94 L.Ed.2d 187 (1987).

. I.R.E. 803(24) reads in relevant part:
Rule 803. Hearsay exceptions; availability of declarant immaterial. — The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness____ (24) Other exceptions. [1] A statement not specifically covered by any of the foregoing exceptions but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, if the court determines that [2] (A) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact; [3](B) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and [4](C) the general purposes of these rules and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. [5] A statement may not be admitted under this exception unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party sufficiently in advance of the trial or hearing to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet it, the proponent’s intention to offer the statement and the particulars of it, including the name and address of the declarant.