Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Jones, 216 N.C. App. 519 (Nov. 1, 2011)
(1) In a drug case, the court followed State v. Meadows, 201 N.C. App. 707 (2010), and held that the trial court erred by allowing an offer to testify as an expert concerning the use and reliability of a NarTest machine. (2) The trial court erred by admitting testimony by an expert in forensic chemistry regarding the reliability of a NarTest machine. Although the witness’s professional background and comparison testing provided some indicia of reliability, other factors required the court to conclude that the expert's proffered method of proof was not sufficiently reliable. Among other things, the court noted that no case has recognized the NarTest as an accepted method of analysis or identification of controlled substances and that the expert had not conducted any independent research on the machine outside of his duties as a NarTest employee.