State v. Clark

775 S.E.2d 28, 242 N.C. App. 141, 2015 N.C. App. LEXIS 573
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJuly 7, 2015
DocketNo. COA14–1277.
StatusPublished

This text of 775 S.E.2d 28 (State v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Clark, 775 S.E.2d 28, 242 N.C. App. 141, 2015 N.C. App. LEXIS 573 (N.C. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

DILLON, Judge.

*141Daniel Joseph Clark ("Defendant") appeals from a judgment entered upon jury verdicts finding him guilty of driving while his license was revoked and driving while displaying an expired license plate registration. The question raised in this appeal is whether the trial court violated Defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the federal Constitution by allowing the State to introduce certified copies of his driving record and revocation orders from the Division of Motor Vehicles ("DMV"). We find no error.

I. Background

Defendant was found guilty of driving while his license was revoked and driving while displaying an expired registration. The court sentenced Defendant to a suspended sentence and placed him on supervised probation. Defendant entered notice of appeal in open court.

*142II. Analysis

In his brief, Defendant only argues error in his conviction for driving while his license was revoked. Therefore, any challenge to his conviction for driving while displaying an expired registration plate is waived. See N.C. R.App. P. 28.

In his sole argument on appeal, Defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing the introduction of certain documentary evidence over his objection. The documents in question are (1) a copy of his driving record certified by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles ("DMV Commissioner"); (2) two orders indefinitely suspending Defendant's drivers' license; and (3) a document attached to the suspension orders and signed by a DMV employee and the DMV Commissioner. In this last document, the DMV employee certified that the suspension orders were mailed to Defendant on the dates as stated in the orders, and the DMV Commissioner certified that the orders were accurate copies of the records on file with DMV.

Defendant contends that the introduction of these documents violated his constitutional right to confront and cross-examine his supposed accusers, the DMV Commissioner and the DMV employee. We disagree.

Our review is de novo. State v. Ortiz-Zape, 367 N.C. 1, 10, 743 S.E.2d 156, 162 (2013).

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him." U.S. Const. amend. VI. Our resolution of the constitutional issue in the present appeal requires a brief review of several landmark United States Supreme Court decisions and the impact of those decisions on the admissibility of certain documentary evidence under our law.

The United States Supreme Court held in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), that the constitutional guarantee to confrontation prohibits the introduction of testimonial hearsay unless the declarant is unavailable to testify at trial and the defendant has had a previous opportunity to cross-examine him or her. Id. at 68, 124 S.Ct. at 1374. Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, offered three, alternate formulations of the definition of "testimonial" within the meaning of the Clause: (1) "ex parte in-court testimony or its functional equivalent-that is, material such as affidavits, custodial examinations, prior testimony that the defendant was unable to cross-examine, or similar pretrial statements that declarants would reasonably *143expect to be used prosecutorially"; (2) "extrajudicial statements contained in formalized testimonial materials, such as affidavits, depositions, prior testimony, or confessions"; and (3) "statements ... made under circumstances which would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the statement would *30be available for use at a later trial[.]" Id. at 51-52, 124 S.Ct. at 1364.

In Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305, 129 S.Ct. 2527, 174 L.Ed.2d 314 (2009), the Supreme Court clarified that documents-however labeled-which contain declarations of fact made for the purpose of establishing that fact in a criminal trial qualify as testimonial, and a defendant has the right to confront and cross-examine a hearsay declarant who creates such a document just as he would any of his other accusers. Id. at 310-11, 129 S.Ct. at 2532. The Court noted that while "[a] clerk c[an] by affidavit authenticate or provide a copy of an otherwise admissible record," he or she cannot "create a record for the sole purpose of providing evidence against a defendant." Id. at 322-23, 129 S.Ct. at 2539 (emphasis in original).

Finally, in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, --- U.S. ----, 131 S.Ct. 2705, 180 L.Ed.2d 610

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George E. Boone, a/k/a George Edward Boone, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia
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State v. Ortiz-Zape
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Bullcoming v. New Mexico
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Bluebook (online)
775 S.E.2d 28, 242 N.C. App. 141, 2015 N.C. App. LEXIS 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clark-ncctapp-2015.