New York Court of Appeals
The People of the State of New York v. Melvin Jones
May 9, 198973 N.Y.2d 427
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division's order reversing the defendant's conviction for sale of a controlled substance, holding that the People failed to prove that the Darvocet tablets sold were the prohibited dextropropoxyphene. The Court required expert testimony to be grounded in facts in the record, which the prosecution's chemist did not provide. Judge Simons filed a concurring opinion agreeing with the result but emphasizing that the error lay in the expert's insufficient identification of the substance, not in admissibility issues.