People v. Salinas

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

In Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36, at p. 68 , 124 S.Ct. 1354 , 158 L.Ed.2d 177 , the United States Supreme Court held the admission of testimonial out-of-court statements is barred by the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment unless the witness is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. The defendant in this case challenges the admission of evidence that rocks seized from him contained methamphetamine. The evidence came in through the testimony of a supervising criminalist who reviewed the report of another laboratory employee, who did not testify. We hold that admission of this evidence does not violate the Crawford decision since the laboratory report is not testimonial; it was not offered as a substitute for live testimony; and the defendant had a full opportunity to cross-examine the supervising criminalist.

In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we conclude there were no instructional errors and that no additional records are relevant to defendant's excess force claims.

The judgment is affirmed.

Appellant Ricky J. Salinas was convicted by jury of…