Ex parte State of Alabama (In re: State of Alabama v. Antonio Pogue) (Baldwin Circuit Court: CC-21-1511)

Rel: January 17, 2025

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter.
Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue,
Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections
may be made before the opinion is published in Southern Reporter.

Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
OCTOBER TERM, 2024-2025
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Ex parte State of Alabama

PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

(In re: State of Alabama

v.

Antonio Pogue)

(Baldwin Circuit Court: CC-21-1511)

PER CURIAM.

The District Attorney for the Twenty-Eighth Judicial Circuit filed

this petition for a writ of mandamus on behalf of the State of Alabama

requesting that this Court direct Judge Scott P. Taylor of the Baldwin
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Circuit Court to set aside his July 17, 2024, order granting Antonio

Pogue's motion for a new trial. For the following reasons, we deny the

State's petition.

Pogue was arrested on July 3, 2020, for trafficking

methamphetamine, see § 13A-12-231(11), Ala. Code 1975, and was

subsequently indicted for that crime. Pogue's trial commenced on May 6,

2024. During the trial, the State presented Mary Burns, the Drug

Chemistry Section Chief for the Mobile Regional Laboratory of the

Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences ("the DFS"), as its expert in

drug-chemistry analysis to testify as to the controlled substance in the

case. Burns, however, did not perform the original analysis on the

substance. That analysis was performed instead by Sherry Steele, who

had formerly worked in the DFS's Montgomery laboratory and had

retired from her employment with the DFS by the time of Pogue's trial. 1

Burns testified that, upon receiving the State's subpoena, she had looked

up the information about the case in the DFS's laboratory information

management system ("LIMS"), had reviewed the data from Steele's

1The State had initially disclosed to Pogue that Steele would be its

expert witness. However, Burns was offered as a substitute expert
witness.
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analysis as well as the photographs taken during Steele's analysis, and

had come to the same conclusion as Steele -- that the substance was

indeed methamphetamine. Although Pogue did not object to Burns's

being accepted as an expert in drug-chemistry analysis, he did object to

Burns's testimony on the ground that her testimony purportedly violated

Pogue's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment

to United States Constitution because the certificate of analysis

constituted a testimonial statement. 2 Judge Taylor overruled Pogue's

objection, noting that Burns had been involved in the case for quite some

time and had appeared at a previous hearing in the case, that the DFS's

report had been disclosed to Pogue during discovery, and that Pogue had

not objected to Burns's being qualified as an expert. Accordingly, Judge

Taylor did not believe that Pogue's right to confront the witness had been

violated. When the State moved to enter into evidence the certificate of

analysis issued by Steele as well as photographs and other documents

pertaining to Steele's testing of the substance, Pogue again objected,

2Pogue also objected to Burns's testimony on the grounds that her

testimony constituted hearsay, that the State had failed to establish a
proper chain of custody, and that the State had failed to disclose Burns
as an expert witness.
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arguing that the certificate of analysis was testimonial and that his

constitutional right to confrontation was being violated by his being

unable to question the individual who had prepared the certificate of

analysis. Judge Taylor overruled that objection.

On May 9, 2024, a jury found Pogue guilty of trafficking

methamphetamine, and Judge Taylor adjudged him guilty of that crime.

On July 8, 2024, before sentencing, Pogue filed a motion for a new trial.

In that motion, Pogue argued that he was entitled to a new trial because

Judge Taylor had erred in allowing the State to admit the report

prepared by Steele through the testimony of Burns. Specifically, he

argued that the State had not proved that Steele was unavailable to

testify merely because she had retired from the DFS and that Steele's

statements were admitted for their truth. In support of his argument,

Pogue cited Smith v. Arizona, 402 U.S. 779 (2024), a decision issued by

the Supreme Court of the United States on June 21, 2024, which was

after his conviction. In that case, the Court held that a "State may not

introduce the testimonial out-of-court statements of a forensic analyst at

trial, unless she is unavailable and the defendant has had a prior chance

to cross-examine her," and that "[n]either may the State introduce those

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statements through a surrogate analyst who did not participate in their

creation." 602 U.S. at 802-803.

Because Rule 24.1, Ala. R. Crim. P., requires that a defendant be

sentenced before granting a motion for a new trial, see State v. Simpson,

354 So. 3d 1076 (Ala. Crim. App. 2021), Judge Taylor pronounced a

sentence of 15 years in prison upon Pogue on July 10, 2024, and then set

a hearing on the motion for a new trial for July 17, 2024. During the

hearing, Judge Taylor concluded that Pogue's rights under the

Confrontation Clause had been violated based upon the holding in Smith

v. Arizona, supra. Thus, following the hearing, Judge Taylor entered an

order on July 17, 2024, granting Pogue's motion for a new trial. The State

then filed this petition for a writ of mandamus. In addition to the State's

petition, this Court has considered the answer filed by Pogue as well as

the amicus curiae briefs filed at the request of this Court by the Alabama

District Attorneys Association and the Alabama Criminal Defense

Lawyers Association.

The State must establish four prerequisites for this Court to issue

a writ of mandamus. "A petition for a writ of mandamus will issue only

if the following prerequisites are established: (1) a clear legal right to the

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relief sought; (2) an imperative duty upon the respondent to perform,

accompanied by a refusal to do so; (3) no adequate remedy at law; and (4)

the properly invoked jurisdiction of the reviewing court." Ex parte Jones,

61 So. 3d 1104, 1106-07 (Ala. Crim. App. 2010). Additionally, an

appellate court may issue a writ of mandamus only when it has been

presented with "rare and/or exceptional circumstances" justifying the

setting aside of a trial court's order granting a motion for a new trial. See

State v. Ellis, 165 So. 3d 576, 581 (Ala. 2014). As the Alabama Supreme

Court noted in Ellis:

" 'In cases such as this one, where the court grants
a motion for new trial for grounds other than, or in
addition to, a finding that the verdict is against the
great weight or preponderance of the evidence, our
review is limited:

" ' "It is well established that a ruling on
a motion for a new trial rests within the
sound discretion of the trial judge. The
exercise of that discretion carries with
it a presumption of correctness, which
will not be disturbed by this Court
unless some legal right is abused and
the record plainly and palpably shows
the trial judge to be in error."

" 'Kane v. Edward J. Woerner & Sons, Inc., 543 So.
2d 693, 694 (Ala.1989) (citation omitted). See also,
Land & Assoc., Inc. v. Simmons, 562 So. 2d 140,
148 (Ala.1989).'

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"Curtis v. Faulkner Univ., 575 So. 2d 1064, 1065 (Ala.1991)."

165 So. 3d at 581.

We initially note that the State has satisfied the third and fourth

prerequisites for the issuance of a writ of mandamus. The State does not

have the right to appeal a trial court's order granting a defendant's

motion for a new trial. See State v. Simpson, supra. Thus, the State does

not possess an adequate remedy at law. Likewise, the State has properly

invoked the jurisdiction of this Court by filing this petition for a writ of

mandamus within 42 days of Judge Taylor's issuing his order granting

Pogue's motion for a new trial. See State v. Ellis, supra.

We now turn to the first prerequisite for the issuance of a writ of

mandamus, i.e., whether the State has a clear legal right to the relief it

seeks. The State contends that it does because, it alleges, Pogue's right

to confrontation was not violated. Specifically, the State asserts that

Burns testified that she had reviewed the DFS's file and had conducted

an independent review of the data. She described the pertinent

information in the case file, including photographs, chain-of-custody

forms, and data associated with the instrumental analysis performed.

She explained how each drug-analysis tool operates and how DFS

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employees perform their tests. She described how she had reviewed the

data contained in the case file to ensure that the instrument had operated

properly when Steele had performed her analysis, including the "batch

packet" that included information about preparation of the instrument.

She additionally explained the process followed under standard

operating procedures to evaluate a substance. She described how

typically a substance is placed into a gas chromatograph mass

spectrometer to determine the chemical composition of the substance.

After reviewing the data in the file from Steele's analysis, Burns gave her

own opinion that the substance in question was methamphetamine. In

addition, Burns explained the DFS's standard operating procedures to

ensure that their electronic scales are balanced and functioning properly.

She described how, as part of her review, she examined the data entries

that were recorded throughout testing regarding the balance and

calibration of the scales used by Steele to test the weight of the substance.

Burns then testified that, based upon her review of the entire case file,

her conclusions matched those of Steele. She also testified that she had

employed a second scientist to peer review her conclusion, which the

second scientist confirmed. The State argues that there was not a

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Confrontation Clause violation because Burns testified as to her own

conclusion based upon her examination of the data. In support of its

argument, the State cites this Court's decisions in Chambers v. State,

181 So. 3d 429 (Ala. Crim. App. 2015), and Belcher v. State, 341 So. 3d

237 (Ala. Crim. App. 2020).

In Chambers, the defendant asserted that the trial court had erred

in admitting the scientific test results on DNA samples because Donna

Gibbons, the scientist who had testified at trial, was not present during

the testing, did not actually handle the DNA evidence, and was not the

supervisor of Patrick Goff, the scientist who had conducted the DNA

testing. Because Goff did not testify, the defendant argued, his right to

confront and cross-examine witnesses called to testify against him was

violated. This Court held:

"In the instant case, Patrick Goff, a forensic scientist
with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences ('DFS')
performed a DNA analysis on the blood mixture taken from
the tip of the latex glove. Goff was unable to testify at trial,
and Donna Gibbons, a forensic scientist also employed by
DFS, testified on his behalf. Gibbons was not Goff's
immediate supervisor and was not present when Goff tested
the sample, but testified that she had reviewed Goff's test
results and the case packet Goff had used when he made his
interpretation about whether Chambers was included in the
DNA mixture sample. Gibbons explained that DFS took a
'team approach' and that a 'certain individual will screen

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evidence and then they will cut it, put it into a tube and then
the next individual will take that to the DNA testing process
and they will run that, and then another individual ... will
come behind them and actually take the case packet, which is
all the DNA testing process paperwork and write a report
from all of that paperwork.' … Gibbons continued to explain
that once a report is prepared, a second scientist will 'come
behind you and review all of that paperwork and come to their
own conclusions and interpretations to see if the reporting
scientist reported it out correctly.' … Gibbons testified that
she was the secondary scientist who reviewed Goff's work and
the data in Chambers's case. Gibbons testified that she had
to review the materials because it was standard procedure
and it also was necessary in cases such as Chambers's where
the person who reported it was not available. Gibbons
testified that the reviewing scientist 'takes sole responsibility
for [the report] also, so [he or she] is able to come testify ...
about the evidence.' …

"In reviewing Goff's work, Gibbons conducted two
reviews. Gibbons testified that '[o]ne is a technical review to
make sure the actual technical process was done correctly and
administrative reviews, checking the case number, periods in
the report ... making sure the names match in the case filed.'
… Gibbons noted that there was no indication of an error in
the population-frequency calculations that were performed in
this case. Gibbons testified that she made her own
interpretations and conclusions based on the information in
the case packet and compared her interpretations and
conclusions with Goff's report. Gibbons testified that her
conclusions were her own and that her conclusions in the DNA
analysis matched those of Goff, who had been at DFS for
approximately the same amount of time as her. Gibbons
stated that Goff followed the rules and best practices in this
case.

"Gibbons's testimony about the DFS processes,
including her technical and administrative review of Goff's

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work that included the entire case packet and her
independent conclusions based on her review of the entire
case packet provided Chambers with ample opportunity to
cross-examine Gibbons regarding the DNA-analysis report.
Therefore, we find that Chambers's right to confront the
witnesses against him was not violated when Gibbons
testified on Goff's behalf regarding the DNA-analysis report."

Chambers v. State, 181 So. 3d at 437-38. In reaching that conclusion,

this Court relied on the Alabama Supreme Court's holding in Ex parte

Ware, 181 So. 3d 419 (Ala. 2014), which analyzed the decision of the

Supreme Court of the United States in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S.

36 (2004), and its progeny. The Alabama Supreme Court observed in

Ware:

"The Sixth Amendment of the United States
Constitution provides in part that, '[i]n all criminal
prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be
confronted with the witnesses against him ....' In Ohio v.
Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66, 100 S. Ct. 2531, 65 L. Ed. 2d 597
(1980), the United States Supreme Court held that the
Confrontation Clause does not bar admission of an
unavailable witness's statement against a criminal defendant
if the statement bears 'adequate "indicia of reliability." '

"In Crawford [v. Washington, 541 U. S. 36 (2004)], the
United States Supreme Court overruled Roberts, rejecting the
'reliability' standard and holding that the right to confront
witnesses applies to all out-of-court statements that are
'testimonial.' 541 U.S. at 68. Although the Crawford Court
did not arrive at a comprehensive definition of 'testimonial,' it
noted that 'the principal evil at which the Confrontation
Clause was directed was the civil-law mode of criminal

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procedure, and particularly its use of ex parte examinations
as evidence against the accused.' 541 U.S. at 50.

"The Crawford Court described the 'core' class of
statements covered by the Confrontation Clause as follows:

" 'Various formulations of this core class of
"testimonial" statements exist: "ex parte in-court
testimony or its functional equivalent -- that is,
material such as affidavits, custodial
examinations, prior testimony that the defendant
was unable to cross-examine, or similar pretrial
statements that declarants would reasonably
expect to be used prosecutorially"; "extrajudicial
statements contained in formalized testimonial
materials, such as affidavits, depositions, prior
testimony, or confessions"; "statements that were
made under circumstances which would lead an
objective witness reasonably to believe that the
statement would be available for use at a later
trial." '

"541 U.S. at 51-52 (internal citations omitted). Crawford held
that a statement made by the defendant's wife during police
interrogation was testimonial and subject to the
Confrontation Clause.

"Since Crawford, the Supreme Court has released three
decisions addressing the application of the Confrontation
Clause to forensic-testing evidence. In Melendez-Diaz v.
Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305, 129 S. Ct. 2527, 174 L. Ed. 2d
314 (2009), the Supreme Court held that a sworn certificate
of analysis attesting that certain materials were cocaine was
a testimonial statement. The Court in Melendez-Diaz
declined to create a forensic-testing exception, and it rejected
the argument that the certificate at issue there was not
testimonial because it was not 'accusatory.'

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"In Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 564 U.S. 647, 131 S. Ct.
2705, 180 L. Ed. 2d 610 (2011), the Supreme Court held that
the Confrontation Clause applied to an unsworn forensic-
laboratory report certifying the defendant's blood-alcohol
level, where the report was specifically created to serve as
evidence in a criminal proceeding and there was an adequate
level of formalities in the creation of the report.

"In Williams v. Illinois, 567 U.S. 50, 132 S. Ct. 2221, 183
L. Ed. 2d 89 (2012), the United States Supreme Court held, in
a plurality opinion, that the Confrontation Clause was not
violated where an expert was allowed to offer an opinion
based on a DNA-profile report prepared by persons who did
not testify and who were not available for cross-examination.
Williams involved a bench trial in which a forensic specialist
from the Illinois State Police laboratory testified that she had
matched a DNA profile prepared by an outside laboratory to
a profile of the defendant prepared by the state's lab. The
outside lab's DNA report was not admitted into evidence, but
the testifying analyst was allowed to refer to the DNA profile
as having been produced from the semen sample taken from
the victim.

"The plurality opinion concluded that the analyst's
testimony was not barred by the Confrontation Clause for two
independent reasons, neither of which received the
concurrence of a majority of the Court. First, the plurality
concluded that the expert's testimony was not admitted for
the truth of the matter asserted but was admitted only to
provide a basis for the testifying expert's opinions. Second,
the plurality concluded that the DNA-profile report was not
testimonial because its primary purpose was not to accuse the
defendant or to create evidence for use at trial, but 'for the
purpose of finding a rapist who was on the loose.' Williams,
567 U. S. at 58, 132 S. Ct. at 2228. The Williams plurality
also noted the inherent reliability of DNA-testing protocols
and the difficulties in requiring the prosecution to produce the
analysts who actually did the testing.

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"Justice Thomas concurred in the judgment in Williams
based on his conclusion that the DNA-profile report 'lacked
the requisite "formality and solemnity" to be considered
"testimonial" for purposes of the Confrontation Clause.'
Williams, 567 U.S. at 104, 132 S. Ct. at 2255 (Thomas, J.,
concurring in the judgment). Justice Thomas, however,
'shar[ed] the dissent's view of the plurality's flawed analysis.'
Id.

"In light of the fractured nature of the decision in
Williams, it is not clear how the United States Supreme Court
will treat forensic reports under the Confrontation Clause.
Justice Kagan concluded her dissenting opinion in Williams
as follows:

" '[The] clear rule [of Confrontation Clause
precedent] is clear no longer .... What comes out of
four Justices' desire to limit Melendez-Diaz and
Bullcoming in whatever way possible, combined
with one Justice's one-justice view of those
holdings, is -- to be frank -- who knows what.
Those decisions apparently no longer mean all
that they say. Yet no one can tell in what way or
to what extent they are altered because no
proposed limitation commands the support of a
majority.'

"567 U.S. at 141, 132 S. Ct. at 2277 (Kagan, J., dissenting).
See also United States v. Pablo, 696 F.3d 1280, 1293 (10th
Cir. 2012) (noting that, in light of the divided opinions in
Williams, admission of forensic reports over a Confrontation
Clause objection 'is a nuanced legal issue without clearly
established bright line parameters')."

181 So. 3d at 413-16.

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Likewise in Belcher, supra, a case involving the imposition of the

death penalty, the defendant argued that the circuit court had committed

plain error by allowing the admission of a DNA report when the forensic

biologist who testified regarding the results contained in the DNA report

did not conduct all the tests that were utilized to reach the conclusions

contained in the report. The defendant argued that his right to confront

his accusers had been violated. During her testimony, the forensic

biologist who testified stated that all the testing done had been "either

validated by [her], approved by [her], or performed by [her]." 341 So. 3d

at 265. Based on the Alabama Supreme Court's holding in Ex parte

Ware, this Court concluded that there was "no error, much less plain

error, in the admission of the DNA report." 341 So. 3d at 267.

On June 21, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States

announced its decision in Smith v. Arizona, supra, in which that Court

resolved the "who knows what" confusion relating to the Confrontation

Clause as referenced in Justice Kagan's dissent in Williams v. Illinois,

567 U.S. 50 (2012). In Smith, the defendant was arrested for possession

of methamphetamine for sale, possession of marijuana for sale,

possession of narcotic drugs for sale, and possession of drug

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paraphernalia after a search warrant had been executed on his property.

The items seized were sent to a crime lab run by the Arizona Department

of Public Safety for a full scientific analysis. An analyst ran the

requested tests. She prepared a set of typed notes that documented her

lab work and results as well as a signed report. Those notes included a

description of each item, noted the weight of each item and how the item

was measured, identified the tests run on each item and the results of

the tests, and a conclusion about each item's identity. The State of

Arizona initially disclosed the analyst who had performed the test as its

expert witness. However, before trial, the analyst left the employ of

Arizona's Department of Public Safety. The State of Arizona thus

decided not to rely on that analyst as its expert witness and filed an

amendment to its final pretrial statement striking the analyst's name

and adding the name of a forensic scientist as a substitute expert. The

State of Arizona wrote in its amendment that " '[the forensic scientist]

will provide an independent opinion on the drug testing performed by

[the analyst]' " and that the forensic scientist " 'is expected to have the

same conclusion' " as the analyst. 602 U.S. at 790. At trial, the forensic

scientist indeed testified as to the same conclusion as the analyst, relying

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on the analyst's report and notes. The forensic scientist testified as to the

scientific methods used by the analyst to analyze the items. He testified

how the analyst had adhered to general principles of chemistry as well

as the Arizona Department of Public Safety's policies and procedures and

explained to the jury how the analyst had confirmed that the equipment

was not contaminated. After telling the jury what the analyst's notes and

report said about her testing of the items, he offered his independent

opinion of the identity of those items. Specifically, he opined that there

were usable quantities of marijuana, methamphetamine, and cannabis.

At the conclusion of the trial, the defendant was convicted.

The defendant appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division

One, arguing that the forensic scientist's testimony had violated his

Confrontation Clause rights because the forensic scientist had formed his

opinions by relying on the nontestifying analyst's analysis. The Arizona

Court of Appeals rejected the defendant's Confrontation Clause challenge

and affirmed his conviction in an unpublished memorandum decision.

See Smith v. State, No. 1 CA-CR 21-0451, July 14, 2022 (Ariz. Ct. App.

2022) (not reported in Pacific Reporter). In doing so, it relied on State ex

rel. Montgomery v. Karp, 236 Ariz. 120, 336 P.3d 753 (Ct. App. 2014),

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wherein it had held that an "expert may testify when the basis of her

independent opinion are forensic reports prepared by a non-testifying

expert, if the testifying expert reasonably relied on these facts and data

to reach her conclusions." 236 Ariz. at 122, 336 P.3d at 755. The Arizona

Court of Appeals concluded that the forensic scientist had presented his

independent expert opinion permissibly based upon the analyst's work

and noted that the testifying forensic scientist had been subjected to

cross-examination. That court also noted that the State did not introduce

the analyst's opinions or any of her work-product documents into

evidence. The defendant petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court for

review, and that court denied his petition.3 He then petitioned the

Supreme Court of the United States for certiorari review, which that

Court granted.

The Supreme Court of the United States rejected the reasoning of

the Arizona Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court initially observed that

the Confrontation Clause's prohibition against admission of an absent

3The denial of the defendant's petition for review is noted in the

Arizona Supreme Court's minutes of January 6, 2023. (at the time this
decision was issued, those minutes could be located at
https://www.azcourts.gov/Portals/21/DRAFT%20Floating%20PR%20Mi
nutes.pdf).
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witness's statement unless the witness is unavailable and the defendant

has had a prior chance to subject the absent witness to cross-examination

is applicable only to "testimonial hearsay." 602 U.S. at 783-786. To be

testimonial hearsay, it must be a testimonial statement and the

statement must be offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Id.

Thus, the Court noted that Smith's Confrontation Clause claim could

succeed only if the analyst's statements came into evidence for their

truth. Smith argued that the statements had been offered to establish

what the analyst said happened in the laboratory had, in fact, occurred.

The State of Arizona, however, argued that the analyst's statements

came into evidence not for their truth but to show the basis of the

testifying forensic scientist's independent opinion. It emphasized that

Rule 703, Ariz. R. Evid. -- like Rule 703, Ala. R. Evid. -- "authorizes the

admission of such statements only for that purpose -- i.e., to 'help[] the

jury [to] evaluate' the opinion testimony." 602 U.S. at 793-94. The Court

noted:

"Evidentiary rules, though, do not control the inquiry
into whether a statement is admitted for its truth. That
inquiry, as just described, marks the scope of a federal
constitutional right. … And federal constitutional rights are
not typically defined -- expanded or contracted -- by reference
to non-constitutional bodies of law like evidence rules. The

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confrontation right is no different, as Crawford [v. Washington,
541 U.S. 36 (2004),] made clear. 'Where testimonial statements
are involved,' that Court explained, 'the Framers [did not
mean] to leave the Sixth Amendment's protection to the
vagaries of the rules of evidence.' 541 U. S. at 61. Justice
Thomas reiterated the point in Williams [v. Illinois, 567 U.S.
50 (2012)]: '[C]oncepts central to the application of the
Confrontation Clause are ultimately matters of federal
constitutional law that are not dictated by state or federal
evidentiary rules.' 567 U. S. at 105 (opinion concurring in
judgment). We therefore do not 'accept [a State's] nonhearsay
label at face value.' Id., at 106; see id., at 132 (Kagan, J.,
dissenting). Instead, we conduct an independent analysis of
whether an out-of-court statement was admitted for its truth,
and therefore may have compromised a defendant's right of
confrontation."

602 U.S. at 794. In agreeing with Smith's assertion that the analyst's

statements in her report and notes were offered for their truth, the

Supreme Court stated:

"But truth is everything when it comes to the kind of
basis testimony presented here. If an expert for the
prosecution conveys an out-of-court statement in support of
his opinion, and the statement supports that opinion only if
true, then the statement has been offered for the truth of what
it asserts. How could it be otherwise? 'The whole point' of the
prosecutor's eliciting such a statement is 'to establish --
because of the [statement's] truth -- a basis for the jury to
credit the testifying expert's' opinion. Stuart [v. Alabama],
586 U.S.[1026,]1028 [(2018)] (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from
denial of certiorari) (emphasis in original). Or said a bit
differently, the truth of the basis testimony is what makes it
useful to the prosecutor; that is what supplies the predicate
for -- and thus gives value to -- the state expert's opinion. So
'[t]here is no meaningful distinction between disclosing an

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out-of-court statement' to 'explain the basis of an expert's
opinion' and 'disclosing that statement for its truth.' Williams
[v. Illinois], 567 U.S. [50,] at 106 [(2012)] (Thomas, J.,
concurring in judgment). A State may use only the former
label, but in all respects the two purposes merge.

"Or to see the point another way, consider it from the
factfinder's perspective. In the view of the Arizona courts, an
expert's conveyance of another analyst's report enables the
factfinder to 'determine whether [the expert's] opinion should
be found credible.' [State ex rel. Montgomery v.] Karp, 236
Ariz. [120,] 124, 336 P.3d [753,] 757 [(Ct. App. 2014)]; see
[People v.] Williams, 238 Ill. 2d [125,] 144, 939 N.E.2d [268,]
278 [(2010] (also stating that such a report 'aid[s] the jury in
assessing the value of [the expert's] opinion'); supra, at 787-
788, 792. That is no doubt right. The jury cannot decide
whether the expert's opinion is credible without evaluating
the truth of the factual assertions on which it is based. See
D. Kaye, D. Bernstein, A. Ferguson, M. Wittlin, & J. Mnookin,
The New Wigmore: Expert Evidence § 5.4.1, p. 271 (3d ed.
2021). If believed true, that basis evidence will lead the jury
to credit the opinion; if believed false, it will do the opposite.
See Williams, 567 U. S., at 106, and n. 1 (Thomas, J.,
concurring in judgment); id., at 126-127 (Kagan, J.,
dissenting). But that very fact is what raises the
Confrontation Clause problem. For the defendant has no
opportunity to challenge the veracity of the out-of-court
assertions that are doing much of the work."

602 U.S. at 795-96. Accordingly, insomuch as Chambers v. State and

Belcher v. State held that testimonial out-of-court statements of a

forensic analyst can be presented by a surrogate expert, those decisions

have been abrogated by Smith v. Arizona.

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The question that the Court left unresolved in Smith v. Arizona --

and in fact left for the Arizona Court of Appeals' consideration on remand

-- is whether the out-of-court statements of the analyst, conveyed to the

jury by the forensic scientist, are testimonial. The State argues in this

case that Steele's statements contained in the DFS's file and relied upon

by Burns were not testimonial. We need not determine whether all of

Steele's statements were testimonial because, under Supreme Court of

the United States' precedent, some of her statements were indeed

testimonial. In Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305 (2009),

prosecutors entered into evidence bags of cocaine seized from the

defendant or that had been stashed by the defendant in the police cruiser

that had transported him to the police station as well as three certificates

of analysis showing the results of forensic analyses performed on the

substances. The certificates, sworn to before a notary public as required

by Massachusetts law, reported the weight of the seized bags and stated

that the bags had been examined and found to contain cocaine. The

Supreme Court held that an analyst's certificate of analysis, while

denominated by law as a certificate, constitutes an affidavit and

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therefore was a testimonial statement covered by the Confrontation

Clause.

During Burns's testimony, the following exchange occurred:

"Q. [State's counsel:] Ms. Burns, I'm showing you
State's Exhibit 14. Do you recognize that document?

"A. [Burns:] Yes, I could.

"Q. Okay. Can you tell us what that document is, and
not really the contents just yet, just what is it?

"A. It is a drug chemistry Certificate of Analysis.

"Q. Okay. And is that a part of the case file?

"A. It is.

"Q. Okay. What is it's [sic] purpose in the case file?

"A. The purpose of the Certificate of Analysis is to reveal
the information contained for this case and to -- the results of
our analyses.

"Q. Okay. And when is that -- when is that certificate
produced in the process of testing?

"A. The final certificate, approved certificate as I am
looking at it right now is the final part of the whole analysis
process. Because this is the approved document that
underwent peer review.

"Ms. Steele issued what we consider a draft report along
with her case record for the review process. And as I testified
to earlier, a peer reviewed that information and then
documented that review process in our LIMS system.

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CR-2024-0655

"So when I have been made known to look at this as a
full case record, I then took that Certificate of Analysis, the
approved Certificate of Analysis, and compared that to the
information within the case record and deemed it to be
accurate.

"Q. Okay. And so is State's Exhibit 14 a fair and
accurate depiction of the Certificate of Analysis that was
issued in this case?

"A. Yes."

Pogue's counsel then objected to the admission of the certificate of

analysis, arguing that the State was "attempting to admit an exhibit that

is from someone else, a non-sworn statement in the name of Sherry

Steele, and we object to the testimony as them attempting to admit it as

testimonial in nature, Your Honor. And Ms. Steele is not here." Judge

Taylor overruled Pogue's objection.

Section 12-21-300(b), Ala. Code 1975, provides:

"To be admissible pursuant to this section, a certificate of
analysis shall contain all of the following:

"(1) The date and time the evidence was delivered
to the facility.

"(2) The name of the person making the delivery,
and the name of the person receiving the delivery.

"(3) A brief description of the evidence.

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CR-2024-0655

"(4) The type of examination or analysis requested.

"(5) The name of the person making the
examination or analysis.

"(6) The date or dates of the examination or
analysis.

"(7) The results of the examination or analysis.

"The certificate of analysis shall give the name and
address of the facility in which the examination or analysis
was made, and it shall be signed by and sworn to as true and
correct, under penalty of law, by the person making the
examination or analysis."

As under Massachusetts law, a certificate of analysis in Alabama must

be signed by and sworn to as true and correct, under penalty of law, by

the person making the examination or analysis. Thus, pursuant to the

holding in Melendez-Diaz, the certificate of analysis executed by Steele

was a testimonial statement. Under the holding of Smith v. Arizona, it

could not be admitted through the testimony of Burns.

Rule 24.1(c), Ala. R. Crim. P., provides that a trial court "may grant

a new trial for the reason that the verdict is contrary to law or to the

weight of the evidence or, if for any other reason, the defendant has not

received a fair and impartial trial." (Emphasis added.) Because the State

offered the certificate of analysis executed by Steele through Burns, a

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CR-2024-0655

surrogate analyst -- even though Burns used the results of Steele's

analysis as the basis of her expert opinion -- and that certificate was

admitted into evidence, Judge Taylor did not err in granting Pogue's

motion for new trial. See Smith v. Arizona, supra. Therefore, the State

has failed to establish the first prerequisite for the issuance of a writ of

mandamus -- that it has a clear legal right to the relief it seeks. No legal

right has been abused and the record does not plainly and palpably show

Judge Taylor to be in error. See State v. Ellis, supra. Accordingly, this

petition for a writ of mandamus is due to be, and is hereby, denied.

PETITION DENIED.

Windom, P.J., and Kellum, Cole, and Minor, JJ., concur. McCool,

J., dissents.

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