Maryland DUI Lawyer Blog
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, reversing the New Mexico Supreme Court’s decision allowing the state to introduce a blood alcohol result through the testimony of a chemist who did not conduct the test. The case was argued and won by Jeffrey Fisher of Stanford Law School. I was privileged to have participated, along with Justin McShane, Ron Moore, Barbara Bergman, Molly Schmidt-Nowara and Alexandra Smith in writing an amicus brief on the winning side for the National College for DUI Defense, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Our brief can be characterized as a kind of “Gas Chromatography for Dummies,” so that non-scientists could understand the complexity of the process, and why it is necessary to be able to question the actual chemist in order to be able to discover potential mistakes in the process or false statements. Footnote 1 of the court’s opinion shows that the five member majority got the message.
Bullcoming should not have any effect on state court proceedings in Maryland. Maryland has what is called a “notice and demand” statute that allows the prosecution to file a notice of a chemist’s report and phlebotomist’s testimony and requires the defense to file a demand for the presence of the chemist or analyst and of the qualified medical person who withdrew the blood. In state court, most lawyers routinely file such demands in blood test cases and unless the chemist comes to court the State cannot use the test result. By requiring the actual chemist and phlebotomist to come to court for the State to use a blood test result, Bullcoming changes nothing in Maryland state court because in almost all cases the actual chemist and phlebotomist is already required to come to court. However, in federal court, there is no comparable notice and demand statute and the government usually tries to introduce the blood test through a lab supervisor.
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