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Jones v. State5/6/2003
sis. We reach this conclusion because there is nothing in the record indicating that the medical records, which were allowed, concerned any other aspect of Jones's medical treatment. The medical records were limited to the drug analysis that was performed on his urine specimen.
B. The Absence of Approved Procedures and Permit
. Mississippi Code Annotated § 63-11-19 (Supp. 2001) provides in pertinent part as follows:
A chemical analysis of the person's breath, blood or urine, to be considered under the provisions of this section, shall have been performed according to methods approved by the State Crime Laboratory created pursuant to Section 45-1-17 and the Commissioner of Public Safety and performed by an individual possessing a valid permit issued by the State Crime Laboratory for making such analysis. The State Crime Laboratory and the Commissioner of Public Safety are authorized to approve satisfactory techniques or methods, to ascertain the qualifications and competence of individuals to conduct such analyses, and to issue permits which shall be subject to termination or revocation at the discretion of the State Crime Laboratory.
. As stated, Jones relies upon the dictates of the quoted statute and Johnston to undergird his argument that the results of the urine analysis were invalid and should not have been allowed because the procedures for the analysis had not been approved by the State Crime Laboratory and the Commissioner of Public Safety and because Cooper did not possess a permit issued by the State Crime Laboratory. Additionally, Jones contends that the results should not have been admitted because the requirement of authentication or identification of the cocaine was not met. Consequently, he contends that the results of the analysis as well as all testimony connected therewith, including Cooper's, should not have been allowed.
. Johnston involved an appeal of a DUI conviction predicated upon the test results of an intoxilyzer machine. The Mississippi Supreme Court, in reversing and remanding Johnston's conviction because the State failed to prove the intoxilyzer machine had been properly calibrated, quoted approvingly from the statute:
A chemical analysis of a person's breath, blood, or urine is deemed valid only when performed according to approved methods; performed by a person certified to do so; and performed on a machine certified to be accurate. Certification of the machines must take place at least quarterly. Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-19 (1972). These safeguards insure a more accurate result in the gathering of scientific evidence through intoxilyzers and are strictly enforced. Where one of the safeguards is deficient the State bears the burden of showing that the deficiency did not affect the accuracy of the result. Johnston, 567 So. 2d at 238.
. We do not find Johnston helpful to the resolution of the issue presented here because Johnston dealt primarily with compliance procedures for ensuring the accuracy of intoxilyzer machines. As reflected in the passage quoted above, Johnston does instruct that a chemical analysis of a person's blood is "deemed" valid only when performed according to approved methods and by a person certified to do so. However, we do not read Johnston to say that the result of a chemical analysis of a person's blood is inadmissible if it is not done by a permittee of the State Crime Laboratory in accordance with methods approved by the State Crime Laboratory. For sure, such an analysis would not be deemed as valid as one performed by a permittee in accordance with methods approved by the State Crime Laboratory. In such cases, the procedures used in the analysis must pass a test of
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