Shea

Thomas Jeremiah Shea was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and submitted to a blood test. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended his driver’s license because the forensic report admitted at the administrative per se hearing indicated he had a blood-alcohol concentration exceeding the legal limit of 0.08 percent. The trial court, however, set aside his suspension, finding the tests were performed by unsupervised, and thus unqualified, forensic analyst trainees.

A forensic alcohol report becomes an official record of the DMV, and thus admissible at an administrative per se hearing, if it complies with the requirements governing the admission of evidence. (Lake v. Reed (1997) 16 Cal.4th 448, 467 [ 65 Cal.Rptr.2d 860 , 940 P.2d 311 ].) This includes hearsay. Although a forensic report is hearsay, it falls within the public employees record exception to the hearsay rule if the proponent of the report (here, the DMV) establishes the necessary foundation for its admission. (Ibid.; see People v. Ramos (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1133, 1177 [ 64 Cal.Rptr.2d 892 , 938 P.2d 950 ].) The public employees record exception is found in Evidence Code section 1280. Under…