Court Opinion

ID: 9498308
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:14:13.369137+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:45.442307
License: Public Domain

TASHIMA, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Regretfully, I must dissent from the majority’s holding that the records of Wei-land’s prior convictions were admissible, because “the records were properly authenticated because the documents in the ‘penitentiary packet’ were self-authenticating public records admissible under Rules 902(2) and 902(4).” Maj. op. at 1073. Respectfully, I suggest that the record in this case cannot support the weight of that conclusion.
Richard E. Greene is the manager of the Offender Records Unit, Oklahoma Department of Corrections. In that capacity, he certified the records of Weiland’s prior convictions at issue in this case. In material part, his certification stated:
that in my legal custody as such officer, are the original files and records of persons heretofore committed to the Department of Corrections; that the 1) fingerprint card, 2) photograph, and 3) commitment documents attached are copies of the original records of persons heretofore committed to said Department of Corrections, and who served a term of incarceration/supervision therein; that I have compared the foregoing and attached copies with their respective originals now on file in my office and each thereof contains and is a full, true and correct copy from its said original.
*1081Although the foregoing certification would be sufficient to meet the requirements of Rule 902(2) and (4) if it were considered in isolation, as the majority does, the problem in this case is that stapled to Greene’s certification is a “facsimile transmittal,” which contradicts the material representations made in the certification. The majority, without any analysis whatsoever, dismisses this facsimile out of hand in one sentence: “The facsimile included in the ‘penitentiary packet,’ apparently from Greene’s office to Paula Menifee in the OSBI, does not change our analysis.”18 Maj. op. at 1073. I do not believe that the facsimile can be dealt with in such an offhand and facile manner — ’that is, virtually ignored.
The facsimile transmission stapled to Greene’s certification is a fax from Paula Menifee, an employee of Greene’s unit, Offender Records, to the OMahoma State Bureau of Investigation (the “Menifee Fax”).19 The text of the Menifee Fax states: “Please send (BY MAIL ONLY) legible copies of any fingerprints, photographs, and rap sheets on the following individuals:” (Emphases in the original.) Listed below the text is Weiland’s name, his date of birth, Department of Corrections number, OSBI number [listed as “unknown”], FBI number, and Social Security number.
Several things are obvious from the Menifee Fax. First, Greene does not have custody of “the original files and records.” If he did, he (or Menifee on his behalf) would not have to request the records from OSBI. Second, if Greene had to obtain “legible copies” of the records from OSBI, he could not have “compared the ... copies with their respective originals.” Third, not having the ability to make a comparison with the originals, Greene had no basis for certifying that the copy is “full, true, and correct.” In sum, the Men-ifee Fax demonstrates that Greene, in fact, was not the custodian of the records which he purported to certify.
Further corroborating the Menifee Fax’s implicit conclusion that Greene was not the custodian is the further fact that the Menifee Fax was not addressed only to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, but jointly to “OSBI-NCIC.” Presumably, the fax was so addressed because “State law enforcement agencies [ie., OSBI] are connected to NCIC through their computer systems,” Case v. Kitsap County Sheriffs Dep’t, 249 F.3d 921, 924 (9th Cir.2001), and going through OSBI was the way that Greene’s Offender Records Unit could access the NCIC database. We briefly described NCIC in Case, as follows: “[T]he National Crime Information Center computer system (‘NCIC’) ... is a national criminal records data system administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. See 28 U.S.C. § 534. NCIC contains criminal history information, including outstanding warrants, and is available to police departments nationwide.” Id. at 923. If Greene was, in fact, the custodian of these records, we can only speculate why Greene, through Menifee, found it necessary to inquire of the NCIC about Weiland’s criminal records.
*1082In short, the Menifee Fax raises a number of troubling questions. Indeed, without a satisfactory explanation of those questions, it completely destroys the reliability of Greene’s certification. Because the certification, on this record, is demonstrably unreliable, the records it purports to certify should not have been admitted under Rules 902(2) and 902(4), and Wei-land’s conviction should be reversed.

. As I show immediately below, the majority is mistaken in assuming that the facsimile was sent "from Greene's office to Paula Meni-fee in the OSBI.” In fact, Menifee is an employee of Greene in the Offender Records Unit.

. Menifee identifies herself as being with "Offender Records.” The fax letterhead shows the same address for Menifee's "Offender Records” office — 3400 Martin Luther King Avenue, Oklahoma City — as the address for Greene's "Offender Records Unit,” shown below his signature on the certification.