State v. Hanson

OPINION

VANZI, Judge.

Defendant appeals from his conviction for violation of a no-contact provision of a protective order. The central issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in admitting secondary evidence to prove the contents of a series of text messages that Defendant allegedly sent in violation of the order. We conclude that the State failed to meet its burden to establish that the originals were lost or destroyed without bad faith before invoking an exception to the best evidence rule. The error was not harmless. Since we remand for a new trial on this ground, we need not reach…