The longest opinion issued by the court of appeals this week was Judge Ervin's 45-page treatise in State v. Ward, __ N.C. App. __ (2009). Although the opinion contains other important material, I want to focus on the court's holding that the method used by an SBI agent to identify certain prescription drugs was "not consistent with the general thrust of existing precedent concerning how controlled substances should be identified in criminal trials and . . . [was] not sufficiently reliable." The defendant in Ward sold what appeared to be prescription drugs to a police informant. A subsequent search of the defendant, his car, and his house turned up enough additional drugs to stock a pharmacy. He was charged with, and convicted of, a variety of drug offenses. Part of the state's evidence at trial was the testimony of an SBI agent who testified as an expert in the fields of chemical analysis of drugs and forensic chemistry. He testified that "that he performed a chemical analysis or visual examination of the evidence seized from Defendant . . . [and that] these substances included Cocaine, Dihydrocodeinone (an opium derivative), Hydrocodone (an opium derivative), Oxycodone (an opium derivative), [and various other controlled substances]." He indicated that he identified some of the drugs based upon a chemical analysis, but that he "identified certain other substances on the basis of a visual examination of the size, shape, color of and markings on the tablets in question." Specifically, the agent compared the appearance of the pills, including [...]
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