As I mentioned in a recent news roundup, earlier this month the Supreme Court of North Carolina decided State v. Ward. The basic holding of the case is that the visual identification of controlled substances is not reliable enough to be admitted in criminal trials, and that a chemical analysis of such substances is normally required in order to identify them. Earlier blog posts on this general subject are here, here, and here. In thinking about Ward and talking about it with my colleagues and with lawyers across the state, a couple of topics have come up time and again. I thought I'd post about them. 1. Does Ward mean that the state must conduct a chemical analysis of every pill in, for example, a case involving 500 pills of ecstasy? No. In the words of the court, "A chemical analysis of each individual tablet is not necessary. The SBI maintains standard operating procedures for chemically analyzing batches of evidence, and the propriety of those procedures is not at issue here. A chemical analysis is required in this context, but its scope may be dictated by whatever sample is sufficient to make a reliable determination of the chemical composition of the batch of evidence under consideration." 2. Does Ward apply to marijuana? I don't know. Some of the language in the opinion is very broad. For example, "the burden is on the State to establish the identity of any alleged controlled substance that is the basis of the prosecution. Unless the [...]
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