California Supreme Court: DNA Reports are not Testimonial

As did our court in Dedman in regards to lab reports, California's Supreme Court held that DNA reports are not testimonial and therefore do not fall under Crawford (People v. Grier, July 2, 2007). However, the California court took the approach outlined in Davis v. Washington and held that the author of a lab report is like the 911 caller in Davis, in that the author is just reporting what she is observing at the time she makes the report (i.e., numbers coming from lab testing equipment) and therefore, like the 911 caller in Davis who is just reporting to the dispatcher what is presently occurring, the lab report is not testimonial.

The hearsay hurdle is overcome by the business records exception.

The courts seem split on the issue of lab reports, so this will be a hot button issue over the next couple of years. And you can expect that the U.S. Supreme Court's test case on this matter will come from somewhere in the 9th circuit. So this just might be the case.