[Download] "State v. Bright" by Supreme Court of Kansas * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State v. Bright
- Author : Supreme Court of Kansas
- Release Date : January 27, 1981
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 56 KB
Description
The opinion of the court was delivered by This is a direct appeal by Joseph W. Bright from his conviction of the sale of cocaine, a narcotic drug, in violation of K.S.A. 1979 Supp. 65-4127a. On appeal, Bright contends that the trial court erred: (1) in refusing to strike the testimony of the State's chemist; (2) in overruling defendant's motion to dismiss at the close of the State's evidence; (3) in refusing to allow the defendant to call certain witnesses; and (4) in allowing the prosecutor to comment in closing argument that the defendant could have examined State's Exhibit No. 1, the cocaine. The first and second points both involve the testimony of Dennis Doms, a chemist employed at the Regional Crime Lab in Independence, Missouri, who was called as the first witness for the State. The witness graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in chemistry, and he had thereafter taken specialized courses and attended seminars. He estimated that he had made in excess of 10,000 chemical examinations, over 1000 of them being for the purpose of determining whether or not a substance was cocaine. He had previously testified in court as an expert approximately 100 times. In the regular course of his duties he received a marked, sealed envelope, State's Exhibit No. 1, opened it, and made an analysis of a small part of the white powder which it contained. This analysis was made through use of a gas chromatograph mass spectrophotometer (GCMS) and an ultraviolet spectra voltometer. The GCMS was used to determine whether the substance contained cocaine, and the UV spectra voltometer was used to determine what percentage of the substance, by weight, was cocaine. Doms testified that the tests disclosed that the substance contained 25% cocaine. The GCMS produces cellographic reporting on light sensitive paper, which is semi-permanent; Doms did not keep these papers, but threw them away.