Martin v. State

STEELE, Chief Justice.

In this appeal, we consider whether a Superior Court judge’s decision to admit a blood analysis report without the testing chemist’s testimony violated Defendant-Appellant’s Sixth Amendment confrontation rights. Here, the testifying laboratory manager who ultimately certified the report testified before the jury, but the manager neither observed nor performed the test. We hold that the absent analyst’s testimonial representations were admitted for their truth on an issue central to the case, which violated the Defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him.…