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Jones v. State5/6/2003
ied person of his choosing administer a test, approved by the State Crime Laboratory created pursuant to section 45-1-17, in addition to any other test, for the purpose of determining the amount of alcohol in his blood at the time alleged as shown by chemical analysis of his blood, breath or urine. Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-13 (Rev. 1996) (emphasis added).
. While section 63-11-13 addresses tests offered by the accused, it seems to us that it would constitute an anomaly in the law to allow the accused to present evidence of test analyses done by persons other than those licensed by the State Crime Laboratory, while, at the same time, preventing the State from using such analyses. Additionally, we find that the language in section 63-11-13, regarding "any other test" is comparable to the language in section 63-11-39(2) which was repealed. As previously observed, section 63-11-39(2) authorized admission of "any other competent evidence" bearing upon the issue of whether a person was intoxicated. Clearly "any other test," properly administered under appropriate procedures and designed to determine the alcohol or drug content of one's blood or urine, constitutes other competent evidence. We therefore find that the trial court did not err in refusing to exclude the results of the urine analysis done by Cooper simply because she did not hold a valid permit from the State Crime Laboratory.
. Having determined that no per se exclusion applies to the test analysis done by Cooper, we look to see, as did the Cutchens court, whether the procedures utilized were reasonable. In this regard, we first point out that Jones makes no complaint about the reasonableness of the procedures, having chosen instead to place all of his bets on a per se exclusion. Nevertheless, as stated, we must look to see if the procedures utilized were reasonably designed to produce credible results.
. Clint Robinson, an emergency room registered nurse employed with the Bolivar Medical Center, after identifying a copy of Jones's medical records, testified that he took a urine specimen for a drug screen from Jones and delivered it to the hospital laboratory for the purpose of having a drug screen performed. He further testified that he had been a registered nurse since 1995 and had been employed with Bolivar Medical Center since he became a registered nurse.
. Betty Ann Cooper, the person who analyzed Jones's urine specimen, testified that she was a medical technologist employed with the Bolivar Medical Center Laboratory. She had been employed there for nine years. Prior to her employment with Bolivar Medical Center, she had worked for thirty years as a medical technologist. She holds a bachelor of science degree in medical technology from the University of Tennessee as well as Delta State University. She identified the test that she performed on Jones's urine specimen as the triage drugs of abuse screening test. She had performed this specific test hundreds of times. She testified that each triage test kit comes with instructions and that she had read the instructions. She further testified that, pursuant to standard hospital policy, her findings have to be confirmed and that in Jones's case, the findings were confirmed by MPL. Cooper identified the confirmation test performed by MPL as being the thin layer chromatography. The laboratory report prepared by Cooper on Jones's urine specimen was admitted into evidence as exhibit 14, and the confirmation report prepared by MPL was admitted as exhibit 15.
. Dr. Steven Hayne, the pathologist for the State Department of Public Safety, was qualified as an expert in the areas of forensic, clinical and anatomical pathology. Dr. Hayne reviewed the laborat
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