Supreme Court of Delaware
Joshua McLean, Defendant Below, Appellant v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee
August 31, 19841984 Del. LEXIS 366
Summary
The Court affirmed the defendant’s vehicular-homicide conviction, holding that admission of the hospital record showing his blood-alcohol concentration did not violate the Delaware or federal Confrontation Clauses even though the laboratory technician did not testify. The record was admissible under the business-records exception because the testing and recordkeeping were routine, contemporaneous, supported by testimony from other qualified witnesses, and sufficiently reliable. The Court concluded that cross-examination of the technician was unlikely to have undermined the test or recorded result.
Holding
- Admissibility of the hospital blood-alcohol record and confrontation rights. The hospital record was properly admitted under the business-records exception, and its admission without testimony from the laboratory technician did not violate the defendant’s rights under the Delaware or federal Confrontation Clauses.
Cited authorities
- Fed. R. Evid. 803(6)
Cited by
- Baber v. State
- Judd v. State, Dept. of Transp. and Development
- State v. Flynn
- Smith v. State
- State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Craig Harris Hensel and Ross Joseph Hensel, Defendants-Appellants
- State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Augustine Daniel Roybal, Defendant-Appellant
- George M. Hammond, Iii, Defendant Below, Appellant v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Thomas L. Kravontka, Appellant